Shadowchasers: The Glass City Saga
by Rocket Knight 777
Summary: The last member of the Toledo Shadowchaser team shows her stuff as she duels not for the job, but for fun. That's not so wrong, right? The Bistro Butcher is next. Please Read and Review.
1. Pro: Gateway to Dark World

Greetings to all of you who are reading this, my name is Rocket Knight 777, but you can call me RK777. This is my first story here on FanFiction, but hopefully not my last. Originally, I wanted to start my time here with a GX story that took place the year following Jaden's graduation; however I had asked a fellow writer to use one of the characters in his story to introduce his cards in a setting that I think most people might relate to more. That does not mean that that story won't be posted, merely that it is delayed until further notice. I also plan to post a Power Ranger fanfic, and bios for a Twisted Metal story I'm creating.

In the mean time, we have this and a few things to go over before we begin.

First, this story is an approved spin-off of Cyber Commander's original Shadowchasers fanfic. It is set about two months after the end of that story in the city if Toledo, Ohio, USA; and its surrounding area.

Second, to state right now, I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG or the show Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds. I do not own Shadowchasers. I only own the characters and cards, unless stated before the start of the chapter, that I have created for the fic.

Third, since this takes place during the 5Ds timeline, one would assume that there will be Turbo Dueling. Well, you'd be right. As such, at least until further notice, Speed World will be used for a Turbo Duel. For those of you who don't know what Speed World is, here it is:

**Speed World**

Field Spell

When you activate a Spell Card, other than a "Speed Spell", you take 2000 damage. During each player's Standby Phase, place 1 Speed Counter on this card (max 12). When you take damage, remove Speed Counters from this card for each multiple of 1000 damage taken.

Fourth, it is entirely possible that my story will coincide with the current chapters being posted in Cyber Commanders sequel. As such, should it occur, anything from CC's story that would affect mine will be included in the necessary chapters.

Now that that is taken care of, we can begin.

If you watch the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX series, you probably remember the episode where Jaden first found out about the Abandoned Dorm. How it had Jaden, Syrus, and Chumley telling ghost stories of various scare levels based on the level of the card they drew from a deck. That same principle will be carried out here. The narrators of this story will present to the order of the story's chapters through a card draw. I have here the card that will take you to them and they will tell you about what is about to occur. So as Orson Welles said on his final television, which was on the 1980's TV show Moonlighting, "gather the kids, the dog, grandma; and lock them in another room" for this tale begins now.

I play the Magic Card Gateway to Dark Word!

(fade to black)

**Shadowchasers**

**The Glass City Saga**

**Written by Rocket Knights 777**

**Prologue**

**Gateway to Dark World**

Three light flash on aiming downward. Their paths come down upon three shadows. One is a boy, possibly in his teenage years, standing about 5'10", another is a man standing professionally at about 6'1", and the last one is female standing at about 5'6 wearing a dress of some kind.

"The story you are about to hear might be hard to believe, but we swear to you it is true," the boy's shadow says. "We know it are because we experienced it or know the ones who experienced parts of it well enough to believe them."

"Had we not been through what we had been through," The older man's shadow says, "we would have been in the same boat that you are in. Well, maybe at least one of us."

"None the less, what happened happened, and you can't change the past," the girl's shadow tells you, showing that she has a bit of an accent in her voice, Transylvanian probably. "So I think we should drop this and get on with the intro."

"Agreed," the man's voice replies. "The location is Toledo, Ohio in the United States. The time….uh, a couple of months after that world-wide rainstorm we had."

"Um," the boy's voice speaks up, "I think they know the story of the recent Deluge."

"Well, most of them anyway," the girl's voice chimes in.

"Oh, yes, quite right," the man's voice says. "Well, then, that makes this a bit easier. Well, as you know, there are Shadowchasers stationed in various cities in various parts of the world. This tale that shall be told is about one such group stationed in what is nicknamed the Glass City."

"But we aren't going to tell you the whole story," the girl's voice says. "We're just here to lead you into each chapter. We're gonna let members of the Shadowchasers take you into their own stories."

"This is because each person's story is connected to another to create the full picture," the boy's voice adds. "So, without further a due, let's get this party started."

"And we shall," the man's voice says as you hear him draw a card, "with this. It's a tale from a member you let's the past dictate his future. It's a story called…."

**Light of Intervention**

(a blinding blight light flashes)


	2. Ch1 Light of Intervention

Shadowchasers: The Glass City Saga

Chapter 1 Light of Intervention

_**Who am I? I am a man who has wandered far from the path of light, and is being punished for it.**_

_**Seems only fair for me to carryout this punishment until the end of my natural life.**_

_**Hopefully, by continuing to do my job here on the Earth is a penance, I will be forgiven for my crime against my friends.**_

_**My name is Zolton Tate, and I am a sinner.**_

It's a fairly quiet night in the city of Toledo. Things were finally starting to dry out after the terrible rainstorm that had struck nearly two months ago. Two people were making excellent use of this clearer, dryer weather by setting up a little picnic spot off the road. Behind them was the majestic city, and before them was the Mighty Maumee River. The young couple just sat there, on the blanket they had laid out on the ground, watching the river while the radio they had brought with them played Earth Angel.

"How can you listen to that old school stuff?" the girl asked her boyfriend.

"Hey," he said back to her, "Back then they really knew how to set the mood; soft love music, a starlit dinner, all while watching the submarine races."

As he said this, he leaned in close and they exchanged warm tender kisses as they laid back onto the blanket enjoying each others company. Suddenly, over the soft music, they heard a twig snap.

"Did you hear that?" the girl said, breaking contact and sitting up, much to her boyfriend's dismay.

"It's just the radio, babe," he told her, slightly annoyed.

"No, listen," she turned off the radio and after about five seconds of silence, another twig snapped. "See!"

Now the boy had lost interest in what they were previously doing, as he sat up and nervously looked around.

"Hello?" he called out. "Is anybody there?"

All that responded was the rustle of leaves and another twig snap.

"We better get outta here," she whispered to him.

"You're right," he whispered back. "You pack up the stuff, I'll get my Duel Runner."

While she started stuffing everything they had brought with them back into a picnic basket, he ran towards the road where he had his Duel Runner parked under a street light. He started to enter the code that would unlock and turn on his Runner, when he heard it.

"HOOOOOOOWWWWWWWLLL!"

The boy didn't even have time to look at the source, as he was tackled by some beast. After wrestling with the beast for about two minutes a bright light instantly flashed on in their direction.

"Hold it!" yelled a voice coming from the direction of the light.

The beast ran off into the shadows.

"Why do they have to run?" the mystery voice said. "Don't they know I can't turn on a dime."

With that, a Duel Runner engine revved, and the light took off after the creature.

"Honey, are you ok?" the girl asked as she ran up to her boyfriend.

"Yeah, I'm fine," the boy said, standing back up and dusting himself off. "Whoever that guy was, he should keep his dogs on a tighter leash."

What the couple didn't know is that the "dog", as they called it, was really a lycanthrope, a werewolf to be more precise. Before you say it, no werewolves aren't the only kind of lycan. There are were forms of all different kinds of beasts. Typically, lycanthropes are born when one or both parents are themselves lycanthropes. Of course there is the infected kind that Hollywood has glamorized, but we'll get into that later.

This lycan was a few miles away from the attack scene leaning up against a wall, catching his breath as he slowly started to change back. Suddenly a bright light flashed on behind him. Shielding his eyes, he turned to look at the driver of the Duel Runner.

"Could you turn that light off?" the lycan said in a gruff voice. "I really don't want to go wild again, Zolton."

The light dimmed to a low setting and the lycan could see the Runner and its driver. The front part of the three wheeled Runner was slick and streamlined, and colored midnight blue; while the back was white and boxy, and the wheels looked like they were supposed to be used for another purpose. The rider, who was wearing a white T-shirt under a midnight blue vest, removed his riding helmet, which looked more like a fighter pilot's helmet with the mask, to reveal a man who was 37 years old with short red hair and deep blue eyes. He is Zolton Tate.

"Come on, Mason," Zolton said to the werewolf, "You told me the last time we talked that you were in control."

"I AM in control!" the lycan, apparently called Mason, yelled. "I just had a little relapse because I was mad I got fired from my job at Tony Paco's."

"I thought you were taking anger management classes as part of your parole." Zolton said.

"I quit that," Mason told him. "The instructor was making me more like a wild pack animal and less like a cute, cuddly puppy."

"Attempted murder and skipping out on parole?" Zolton asked. "You know you technically confessed that to me, and that technically counts as enough cause for arrest."

"Only if you beat me," Mason pointed out.

"I know that," Zolton said back. "That your Runner?"

He was pointing to a Black Chopper Style Runner that was parked a little further down the alley.

"Yeah," Mason said quizzingly. "So what?"

"We'll Turbo Duel. You win, you go free. I win, you face the punishment for your crimes."

"Deal!" Mason ran to his Runner, put on his helmet, and started it up. Zolton simply put his helmet back on and revved his Runner's engine. They positioned their Runners side by side where Water Street met Monroe Street.

"OK, since you're doing this willingly," Zolton told Mason, "here's what we're gonna do. First one to make a left turn onto Summit takes the first turn. From there we'll take Summit to Washington, to North Erie, to Monroe and continue the loops as needed."

"So this is a circuit track?" Mason asked.

"Well, since you're not running," Zolton explained, "it doesn't make much sense to do a sprint, now does it?"

"I guess not," Mason said. "You ready, Shadowchaser!" He pushed a button the console of his Runner.

"Always!" Zolton said, doing the same . The computer screens on both Runners came to life as a Duel Masters card appeared on screen.

"Duel Mode engaged."

The screen then shifted programs as the on-screen display changed from normal dashboard to Turbo Duel field. The Duel Disk connected to Mason's Runner hummed to life as the Duel Tray opened, while a Duel Tray slid across Zolton's lap.

"Auto pilot standing by."

"LET'S RIDE!" The two duelists shouted together.

**(Zolton: 8000 SC: 0) (Mason: 8000 SC: 0)**

Both Runners took off from their start points and zoomed around the corner. Mason slowed his Runner just enough to let Zolton take the lead.

'_I don't know which deck he's using,'_ Mason thought to himself. _'So I'd better let him have the first turn.'_

Zolton was the first to round the corner onto Summit, just like Mason planned it.

"Huh, I don't know what you're planning, Mason" Zolton called to him as he drew the top card from his deck, "but whatever it is, I've got the first turn."

Zolton looked over his cards, and started forming a strategy.

"I'll start by discarding one card from by hand in order to special summon Fiend Roar Deity Beast Chawa in Attack mode."

After he places a card into a slot attached to a gauntlet on his right arm, he placed a card on his field and a blonde-furred Chihuahua wearing black and lavender armor appeared on the field in front of him. (ATK: 200)

"And since I discarded him, I can now special summon Fiend Roar Deity Beast Gana Shia to the field from my graveyard with a 200 Attack Point Bonus."

The card he discarded instantly slid out of his graveyard gauntlet and he placed it on his Duel Tray. Then a small anthromorphic elephant wearing purple and green clothing materialized to Chawa's left. (ATK: 1600 1800)

"And I still got my normal summon and I'll use it to bring out Fiend Roar Deity Raven in Attack Mode."

He played the card and a fiend with black leather armor with wingblades attached to his arms and boots flew next to Zolton. (ATK: 1300)

"Now I'll use Raven's special ability. By discarding cards from my hand, Raven gains 400 Attack Points and a Level for every card discarded until the end phase. So by discarding two cards … well, you do the math." (ATK:2100) (LV:4)

"Three monsters on the first turn?" Mason said with shock.

"I'm far from being done," Zolton continued, "One of the two cards I discarded was Fiend Roar Deity Luri. And if he's discarded, I get to special summon him to the field."

Suddenly, a portal opened to Raven's left and a small blue-haired imp with large bat-like wings and a red mask flew out. (ATK: 200)

"Now the real fun can begin. See, Chawa and Raven are both Tuners. So first, I'm tuning Chawa with Ganashia for a Synchro summon." Chawa started to glow, and then burst into a single Synchro Ring. The Ring then surrounded Ganashia, cutting it down to an orange outline of its former self. As the outline faded, three glowing stars appeared an aligned themselves through the ring. A beam of light passed through the stars, connecting them. The beam then expanded to the size of the ring.

"Come on out! Fiend Roar Deity Beast Unicor!"

The beam of light faded to reveal a white unicorn with a black tail, wearing black armor. (ATK: 2300)

"Next, I'll tune my now level four Raven with my level one Luri."

Raven suddenly turned into an orb of light that burst into four Synchro Rings that aligned to form a tunnel of sorts. Luri flew into the formed tunnel and was cut down to his orange framework, which then dissolved into a single glowing star. Another beam of light then passed through the star and then expanded to a pillar of light the size of the rings.

"Take form, Fiend Roar Deity Legion!"

The light faded, revealing a fiendish looking Knight with large bat like wings armed with a large broadsword. (ATK: 2300)

"And now, thanks to Legion's effect, if I have no more than one card in my hand the moment he's summoned, I get to draw until I have two cards."

Which he did.

"With that I end my turn."

'_OK,'_ Mason thought, _'hand depletion, mass-summoning, and Light Fiends all add up to his Light Deck. Let's see if all the tests on my Level Deck will payoff.'_

"My draw!" Mason called out.

**(Speed Counters: Z:1 M:1)**

"First, I'll play the Speed Spell – Over Boost spell card, giving me an extra four speed counters."

Instantly, Mason's Runner took off like a shot until it was at least a Duel Runner's length ahead of Zolton.

**(Speed Counters: Z: 1 M: 5)**

"Next, I'll discard my Silent Strider to lower the level of your Unicor by one."

As Mason slid a card from his hand into the Graveyard slot on his dashboard, Unicor started to glow with a red aura as its level fell from four to three.

"Now that the stage is set, I'll play Speed Spell – Summon Speeder. Now that I have over four speed counters, I can special summon a monster that's at max level four. Something like my Queen's Bodyguard."

With that a man with gray hair wearing a fancy suit and red eye mask, and wielding a long sward appeared in front of Mason. (ATK: 1700)

"Next, I'll Normal Summon Allure Queen Level 3 in Attack mode."

As he said this, a young girl, possible in her early teens, wearing a maroon and black dress and hat and wielding a fancy scepter appeared next to the Bodyguard.

(ATK: 500)

"Now I'll use by Allure Queen's effect, and equip her with your Unicor, now that it's Level Three."

The girl then pointed her scepter at Unicor and the gem it held started to glow. The glow then appeared around Unicor, and turned it into an orb of light, which flew towards the gem and was absorbed by it.

"And I think I'll leave it at that which means that my speed counters get cut down to one."

**(Speed Counters: Z:1 M:1)**

"I think I know what you're up to now, Mason," Zolton said. "And I'm gonna stop you right now." As he said this last part, he drew.

**(Speed Counters: Z:2 M:2)**

"Legion, destroy his monster with Sword of Many!"

The fiendish Knight drew his sword and started to fly towards Allure Queen, but her bodyguard stepped in the way.

"Sorry, but as long as Queen's Bodyguard is on the field, you can't attack the Queen," Mason said.

"Then I'll just have Legion take out her protector!" Zolton said back.

As he said this, Legion raised its sword and swung it down on the Bodyguard, causing him to shatter like glass. **(Mason: 7400)**

"Now I'll just set this face down, and hand it over to you." A face down card appeared beside Zolton's Runner, and then vanished as if absorbed by the speed.

"My move!" Mason called out, drawing a card.

**(Speed Counters: Z:3 M:3)**

"On my standby phase, when Allure Queen is equipped with a monster, she grows up."

The gem on Allure Queen's staff started to glow. The energy it created then started to radiate from the young queen as she entered her late teens and her dress and staff got more elaborate. (ATK: 1000)

"She just went from Level 3 to Level 5, which means that she can now harness the power of a monster on your field up to Level 5, like your Legion."

With that, Allure Queen turned and aimed her scepter at Legion. The gem once again glowed, and that glow appeared on the fiend and turned it into an orb of light, like the previous queen did to Unicor. The orb then flew towards the gem on the queen's scepter and was absorbed by it.

"Now I could attack you directly, but I'm a cautious beast and that Trap Card could be something that'll cause her majesty to blow up right in my face. So instead, I'll set a facedown and summon Ultimate Insect Level 1 in attack mode."

A facedown card and a big purple caterpillar appeared on the field. (UI1 ATK:0)

"That ends my turn."

'_Everything is going like I planned.' _Mason thought with a smirk. He glanced over to his queen_. 'Once Allure Queen reaches Level 7, not even his best monster can save him.'_ He turned his glance over to his bug. _'Then, as Ultimate Insect grows stronger, all of his monsters will grow weaker, and they'll be ripe for the picking.'_

"My turn!" Zolton yelled, drawing.

**(Speed Counters: Z: 4 M: 4)**

He looked at the card he just drew and then at his hand. He started to think. _'OK, I have Solcius in my Graveyard, but I don't have anything that I can use to discard it that can help. Maybe ….'_

"I activate my Jar of Greed Trap Card!" Zolton called out as his facedown lifted.

"THAT was your Trap Card!" Mason asked in shock.

"Yep," Zolton said with a smile, "Looks like you were scared for no reason. Now, with the power of my Jar of Greed, I draw one card.:

He took a card off the top of his deck and looked at it. His eyes lit up.

"Perfect! I just found a way to de-throne your queen. First, I discard two cards from my hand to bring back to the field the Fiend Roar Deity Solcius I discarded earlier to power-up Raven."

He placed the two cards in his Graveyard gauntlet and a new fiend appeared on his field. This one was just as humanoid as Raven only more muscular, wearing black pants, a black breastplate with a golden design, and a red mask on his face. (ATK: 2200)

"HA! You had me scared there for a minute," Mason laughed. "You have a better chance of taking out my insect then you would my queen. Cuz if you attack her, she'll use her power-up as a shield. Then, all I'd have to do us power down your Solcius, and then you'll be wide open."

"Don't be so sure," Zolton said as a black cat with a rat-like tail appeared.

"What is that?" Mason asked.

"This is Fiend Roar Deity Beast Kashi," Zolton explained, "and when it's discarded and sent to the Graveyard, it takes a face-up card with it, like your Allure Queen."

With that, Kashi turned into an orb of light and shot through the air, aimed at Allure Queen. Upon making contact, both orb and Allure Queen shattered into particles of their former selves.

"Now that that's out of the way, Solcius, takeout that bug."

Solcius took off, raising a fist high, ready to strike the caterpillar.

"Not so fast!" Mason called out. "Go Negate Attack!"

A force field instantly appeared around Ultimate Insect as Solcius slammed its fist into it.

"I don't think I have to tell you how it works." Mason laughed.

Under his helmet, Zolton gave him a dirty look and ground his teeth together.

"I'll set one card face down and end my turn." Zolton said sternly.

"My move," Mason said.

**(Speed Counters: Z: 5 M: 5)**

"Now, just like Allure Queen, my Insect Levels up on my standby phase."

The caterpillar then started to glow, which caused it to grow. When the glow subsided, Zolton could see that it didn't just get bigger, it got more menacing. (ATK: 1400)

"And since its Level Three form is on the field, all of your monsters lose 300 Attack Points."

Ultimate Insect turned its ugly head towards Solcius and shot some sticky string at him, constricting his moves a little. (ATK: 2200-1900)

"Course, even with that, I can't take out your Fiend just yet. So I'll summon Dark Mimic Level Three in Attack Mode."

A fiendish looking treasure chest appeared on Mason's field. (ATK: 1000)

"Then, I'll set a face down ending my turn."

"And starting mine!" Zolton added as he took the top card off his deck.

**(Speed Counters: Z: 6 M: 6)**

"I'll start by playing the Speed Spell – Shift Down spell card."

Zolton's Runner started to slow down, causing it to fall back until it was a good quarter mile behind Mason's.

**(Speed Counters: Z: 0 M: 6)**

"Now that I've given up six Speed Counters, I can now draw two cards from my deck."

Once he took the cards and looked at them, he smiled under his helmet.

"And now I'll play one of the cards I drew, Speed Spell-Angel Blessing. With this since my speed counters are less than four and less than half of yours, I can now draw four cards."

After drawing his new cards, his smile got even wider.

"And I just drew what I was looking for, but first I activate my face down trap, Descending Lost Star."

The card lifted up to reveal itself.

"Thanks to this, I can bring back Legion from my Graveyard with one less Level and Zero Defense Points in Defense Mode."

In a flash of light, Legion reappeared on the field, keeling on one knee, raising its sword as if to block an on coming attack (0 DEF)

"Next, I'll discard Fiend Roar Deity Mihztorji, and use his effect to treat Legion as a Tuner."

As he slid the card into his Graveyard, Legion was surrounded by a golden aura.

"You know, I've always wondered what it looks like when you use a Synchro Monster as a Tuner. Now, I guess we'll find out."

As he said this, Legion started to glow with the same golden light that surrounded it. It then burst into particles of light, leaving only four Synchro rings.

"I'm Tuning together Legion with Solcius…"

The rings aligned themselves around Solcius, cutting him down to his orange framework. The framework then dissolved leaving six stars that aligned themselves in a straight line through the center of the rings. A beam of light passed through the stars, connecting them, and then expanded to the size of the rings.

"To Synchro Summon the Ruler of the FRDs."

The pillar of light faded, leaving only a throne, make of what could be thought of as granite, being carried by a multitude of small fiends of various colors.

"Descend from the sky, Fiend Roar Deity Levuathan!"

High above the duel field, a shadowy figure flew down to reveal himself. He had red hair and black and red armor with gold accents. Both his hair and armor had a visual Kei fashion-ish style to it. He wore a mask over his eyes and had large, crimson, bat like wings. He hovered over the throne for a minute before repositioning himself and landing in the throne in a seated position. He then leaned back in his throne as if to make himself more comfortable. (ATK: 3000)

"Did you forget my Insect's effect?" Mason called to him. "As long as it's on the field, your monsters lose Attack Points."

Once again, the large purple caterpillar turned its ugly head towards Levuathan and shot its sticky string into his lap, cementing him into his throne. He sat bolt upright and stared down at this new development. (ATK: 2700)

"Next," Mason continued, "I activated my Taunt Card, making Dark Mimic your only target."

"OK," Zolton said in response, "but you're only hurting yourself. Levuathan destroy Dark Mimic with Fallen Storm!"

The royal fiend merely pointed a finger at the fiendish chest, and a bolt of black lightning came down from the heavens and struck it down, causing it to disintegrate. Mason growled as he struggled to regain the control of his Runner he had lost when the attack made contact. **(Mason: 5700 SC: 5)**

"I may have lost more Life Points by doing that," Mason hollered, "but it's worth it to draw a card, thanks to Dark Mimic's effect."

'Not to mention keep your bug around to make it stronger,' Zolton said. He took two cards from his hand and placed them facedown.

"That's all for now, Mason," Zolton told him as he concluded his turn.

"Then, look out!" Mason yelled as he drew.

**(Speed Counters: Z: 1 M: 6)**

"First, I'll upgrade Ultimate Insect to Level Five."

The large caterpillar started to glow and grow. When the glow subsided, what was left was a monstrous form of an insect. It looked like a moth that broke out of its cocoon before its wings could develop. It walked on four long, thin legs and seemed to be able to keep pace with Mason's Runner. (ATK: 2300)

"With this bug on the field, your monster now loses 500 Attack Points instead of 300."

As the Insect ran along side Mason, particles of some kind of dust or pollen flaked off of its exoskeleton and floated through the air. The particles were then inhaled by Levuathan, causing him to become weaker. (ATK: 2500)

"Next, I'll bring out Mystic Swordsman Level Two in Attack Mode."

A little white-robed swordsman wielding an energy sword appeared on Mason's other side. (ATK: 900)

"Next, I'll play the Speed Spell Card, High Speed Crash. With this, I can sacrifice Mystic Swordsman to destroy a card on your field, since I have more than two speed counters."

With that, Mystic Swordsman turned and soared towards Levuathan, tackling him and causing both to explode. When the smoke cleared, neither monster remained.

"Now that you're defenseless, my Ultimate Insect is gonna even the score. Attack with Toxic Pollen Twister!"

The giant beetle rotated to face Zolton as if it were standing on an invisible turntable. It then opened its jaws and unleashed a powerful cyclone that was loaded with the pollen that flaked off its body. The blast made contact and Zolton took it without even flinching. **(Zolton: 5700 SC: 0)**

"That the best you got!" Zolton called out. "I've taken worse hits from an Armed Ninja!"

Mason growled at that comment.

"And since you didn't give me a chance before," Zolton continued, "I'll tell you about Levuathan's effect now. When you destroyed him, I was able to take three Fiend Roar Deity Monsters from my Graveyard and add them to my hand. And with these cards, I'm gong to put an end to your Ultimate Insect."

"Then, by all means, try," Mason told him. "My turn's done."

'_OK,'_ thought Zolton, _'thanks to him destroying Levuathan, Mason allowed me to get back Chawa, Kashi, and Ganashia. Now, all I gotta do is find a way to use them, and I think I know how.'_

"Ask and you shall receive, Mason!" Zolton yelled out. "My move!"

**(Speed Counters: Z: 1 M: 7)**

"First, I'll activate Call of the Haunted to bring back Unicor."

One of his facedown revealed itself and an orb of light flew out of the card. The orb then transformed into the White Unicorn that Zolton summoned at the start of the duel. (ATK: 2300 1800)

"Next, I discard a card to Special Summon Fiend Roar Deity Chawa."

As he slid the card into his Graveyard, the Chihuahua from earlier on reappeared. (ATK: 200 0)

"And the card I discarded was Kashi, which can take a face-up card with it to the Graveyard."

Suddenly, a beam of light shot out of Zolton's Graveyard Gauntlet. If you could take a close look at it, you cold see Kashi was in it with its claws extended.

"And I think you know who its target is."

The beam shot through the Insect like an arrow and caused it to burst into shards of its former image before they dissolved.

"And with that pain gone, my monsters get back their strength."

(Unicor ATK: 2300) (Chawa: 200)

"Next, I normal summon Ganashia back to the field."

The little bipedal elephant reappeared onto the field as Zolton placed the card on his disc. (ATK: 1600)

"Now, I'll tune them all together."

With that, Chawa turned into a Synchro Ring. The ring turned Unicor and Ganashia into seven stars that lined up through the center of it. The ring and stars then turned into a pillar of light. As all this happened, Zolton was chanting.

"Mighty Samurai of Fallen Light, come forth and aid me in this fight. ARISE! FIEND ROAR DEITY VALKIRIS!"

The light faded to reveal a broad shouldered winged fiend wearing elaborately decorated, black shogun armor with read and gold accents. (ATK: 2900)

"Now you're the one who's wide open, Mason. Valkiris, attack with Dark Light Katana!"

Valkiris held out an open hand as an orb of dark light appeared in it and took the form of an energy Katana. Valkiris grabbed the energy sword and took off towards Mason's Runner. When he got into position, he swiped the blade across the length of Mason's Runner, and returned to Zolton's side. **(Mason: 2800 SC: 5)**

"Now, I'll use Valkiris's effect by discarding a fiend-type monster like my Ordoro. I get to draw one card."

After sliding a card into the Graveyard, Zolton took the top card off of his deck and took a good look at it. The cards image had a straight line of 7 Level Stars down the center, with Dark Strike Fighter on the left with a green background and Ancient Sacred Wyvern on the right with a red background.

'This will do just find for a closer, in case he takes out Valkiris,' Zolton thought as he placed the card on his desk and it appeared face down.

"You're move, Mason!" Zolton called out.

Mason just drove silently around the track.

"Mason!" Zolton yelled concerningly. "Are you OK!"

Mason was still silent.

'Oh, boy,' Zolton thought, "He's gone feral. And this is the one time I forgot to pack tranquilizers.'

"I've never felt better Zolton," Mason said back to him.

'Wait a sec,' Zolton thought. 'That's his normal voice.'

Mason turned his Runner around so that he was going backwards. Even from the distance he was at, Zolton could see that Mason was back in his human form.

"You're a strange one, Mason," Zolton told him. "Most werewolves in this intense of a duel would go feral, but you got calmer."

"I guess I just did what my shrink told me," Mason confessed. "He told me to focus my anger into my monsters and Life Points, and as I lost them, I thought my anger was leaving me. Worked like a charm."

"So that's why you run a Level deck," Zolton exclaimed. "As the monster's Levels increase, so do their powers."

"Yep," Mason added, "just like rage."

"Well, you may have a little control," Zolton said, "but you still gotta deal with the charges we set at the start of this."

"Again, I'll say it," Mason retorted, "only if you beat me."

With that, Mason turned his Runner back around and took off with Zolton racing right behind him.

"My move!" Mason hollered, drawing.

**(Speed Counters: Z: 2 M: 6)**

"If it worked for you, let's see if it'll work for me. I play the Speed Spell-Shift Down Card."

Mason's Runner instantly slowed down allowing Zolton to zoom by him.

**(Speed Counters: Z: 2 M: 0)**

Mason then drew two cards, once he saw them, he started to laugh.

"Ha Ha Ha! Looks like I'm getting off free and clear! I play the Summon Accelerator Speed Spell."

He placed the card on his disk and it appeared on the field. The image showed a Blue-Eyes White Dragon flying out of a portal over a Duel Runner with the aura of Speed World in the background.

"With this card, if my speed counters are less than five, and less than half of yours, I can special summon a monster of any level, but if it's a level seven or higher, I gotta discard one card."

He slid a card into his Graveyard.

"But it's more than worth it to bring out my ace in the hole. Say hello to Greed Quasar."

What happened next was kind of hard for Zolton to actually picture existing. It looked like some form of alien with a skull of a chest, crab-like legs and long skinny arms. (ATK: ?)

"What is that?" Zolton asked in shock.

"This is Greed Quasar," Mason explained, "An extraterrestrial form with the power to surpass twelve levels. See, it starts at seven and its Attack Power is equal to 300 times its level."

The life form growled menacing. (ATK: 2100)

"And thanks to the Power Soul I discarded, he gains an extra 1000 Attack for this turn."

Quasar was then surrounded by a red aura that made him even stronger. (ATK: 3100)

"Now, Quasar, obliterate his Valkiris!"

The life form opened the mouth on its chest and started to inhale. Valkiris was swept up in the air intake and was then swallowed up.

"And with Quasar's effect it gains your monsters Level, which means it also gains Attack."

The red glow subsided and was replaced by a golden one. (LV: 15) (ATK: 4500)

"That ends my turn. Good luck trying to beat this!"

"Oh, I think I'll be just fine," Zolton said. "My move!" He took the top card off his deck.

**(Speed Counters: Z: 3 M:1)**

"First, I activate Wicked Rebirth to bring back Valkiris at the price of 800 Life Points."

The card lifted up and an orb of light flew out of it and took the form of the fiendish Shogun. (ATK: 2900) **(Zolton: 4700)**

"Next, I activate the Star Reconfiguration Trap Card."

The facedown card flipped up to reveal itself to be the card Zolton drew with Valkiris's effect.

"With this card, after paying a heavy price of half of my Life Points and a discard of one card in my hand, I can trade in one Synchro monster for one of the same Level."

He slid a card into his Graveyard as his Life Points dropped like a stone. **(Zolton: 2350)**

"But the only other Level Eight Synchro you have is …" Mason said as it dawned.

"That's right, Mason," Zolton interrupted.

Valkiris started to glow with a golden light and then bust into eight stars that aligned themselves in front of the card a beam of light shot out of the card and the stars to each other. The light then expanded into the usual light pillar.

"I'm trading in Fiend Roar Deity Valkiris for Jalal the Dragonborn!"

The light subsided to reveal a man with a rich tan, long, pointed ears, sharp, feral features, and golden blond hair wearing a knight's armor, and wielding a gleaming longsword in his right hand, and a shield with a golden dragon painted on it in his left hand. (ATK: 2600)

"And now I'll use Jalal's effect, paying another half of my Life Points to remove a Spell or Trap from my Graveyard."

A card came out of his Graveyard Gauntlet as he was surrounded by a red aura and his Life Points took another dive-bomb. **(Zolton: 1175)**

"Doing this give him a Rune Counter."

Jalal swung his sword downward and turned it so the broad side was facing out aa a glowing symbol appeared near the tip of his blade.

"And by expending the Rune Counter, I can use the effect of the card I removed. A card called Synchro Baton appeared, which gives Jalal an extra 600 Attack Points for every Synchro Monster in my Graveyard, and I count four, meaning a 2400 point boost."

Jalal then raised his sword high into the air as the counter on his sword vanished and he was covered in a golden aura. (ATK: 5000)

"Jalal, attack Greed Quasar with Sword of the Ancients!"

Jalal then leapt high into the air, flying towards to alien. As he came down, he cleaved his sword right down the middle of it. The alien then exploded into a flurry of particles. **(Mason: 2300)**

"I still got Life Points!" Mason called out. "That means that I still got a chance!"

"Not quite, Mason!" Zolton called back. "I play the Speed Spell-Left in the Dust. With this, if my Speed Counters are triple that of yours, I can pay 500 Life Points in order to remove five cards from play and draw two cards."

Four cards slid out of his Graveyard while one slid out of Mason's. **(Zolton: 675)**

"Now let's see what I got!'

Zolton drew two cards and took a look at them.

"Perfect! I play the Speed Spell Card, Jump Start!"

Two jumper cables appeared, connecting Jalal's sword to Zolton's Runner.

"Now, if my Speed Counters are under four and my Life Points are under 1000, I gain Speed Counters equal to one monster's Level and Life equal to that same monster's Attack or Defense, depending on its position."

A glow traveled through the cables from the sword to the Runner, as Zolton got a recharge.

**(Zolton: 2600 SC: Z8)**

"I did this for two reasons. One, it makes the math a little easier for me for a little later. Two, now that my Speed Counters are over four and at least double yours, I can play the Trap Accelerator Speed Spell. Now I play a Trap from my hand, something like Return from the Different Dimension."

He placed the card on his disk and it instantly activated.

"So now, at the low, low price of half my Life Points, I can now bring back all the monsters I removed from play I can."

As his Life Points dipped once more time **(Zolton: 1300)**, Valkiris (ATK: 2900), Unicor (ATK: 2300), Levuathan (ATK: 3000), and Legion (ATK: 2300) reappeared on his field.

"Sorry Mason, but it's over."

"Heh," Mason laughed, "do it."

"Unicor!" Zolton hollered. "End this with Fallen Burst!"

The unicorn opened its mouth and unleashed a beam of dark light aimed straight at Mason's Runner, and made contact. **(Mason: 0)**

Steam started to pour out of the Runner, causing it to slow to a stop. Zolton pulled his Runner up as the holograms and the aura of Speed World faded away.

"Game over, Mason," Zolton said. "Sorry to say, you lose."

"I'll be back, Z," Mason said, "and I'll have my Rage Deck perfected. Good job with that deck, though. You think I'll ever get a chance to face you with your true deck?"

Zolton's face turned grime. "Pray that you never get the chance to take on a true deck. I only use it on those who really deserve it."

With that, he held up a jewel that looked like a sapphire. It started to glow, and then Mason vanished from where he was.

Zolton looked around to see where they had stopped and saw that he was outside Fifth Third Field.

"If only I had a chance to see a game again," he sighed. He than took off down the street.

After about a half hour on the road, Zolton drove into a parking garage that was next to Toledo's newest casino, Pot o' Gold. He drove down into sublevel two and stopped in front of a wall with a reserved parking spot. He pushed a button on his dashboard, and the wall in front of him opened to reveal a hidden path. He drove down the path a little way until he got to a hidden parking lot where three other Duel Runners were parked. Zolton maneuvered his Runner into a parking slot and hit a button on his dashboard.

"DISENGAGING DUEL RUNNER CHASIS!"

A stand lowered itself to the ground from under the streamline section of the Runner, and lifted it off the white part, revealing it to be a wheel chair. Zolton removed his helmet and placed it into a compartment on his Runner section. He then wheeled himself over to an elevator on a far wall of the hidden parking lot. He entered it, and rode all the way to the next stop. It was an express elevator that only had two stops, the hidden parking lot, and a penthouse suite. The elevator doors opened to the penthouse and he rolled out into it.

"Hey, Hey, Wheelie's back!"

Zolton turned his head to the direction of the voice and saw a blonde-haired, possibly 21-year-old young man wearing black-framed glasses and sitting at a computer.

"Hey, Erick," Zolton said back.

He started to roll in further when he heard the sound of high heels clicking to his left. He looked to see a beautiful looking strawberry-blonde walk up to him and kiss him on the cheek.

"Welcome back, Zolton," she said. "Rough Night?"

"No more than usual, Maria," Zolton said. "Had to put Mason in his place."

"What was his deck this time?" Erick asked, not even looking up from his computer.

"Something he called a Rage Deck," Zolton told him, taking a cup of coffee that Marie handed him, "Level Monsters with the addition of a Greed Quasar."

"Interesting," Erick said, intrigued.

"Hey, where's Keith?" Zolton asked as he looked around.

"Where do you think?" asked a pale looking girl with chin length lavender hair. "He's still on duty. He called saying he would be late."

"Well, crime waits for no one, Delilah," Zolton told her. "Not even someone pulling double duty, law-wise, as he would say."

"And the wait continues," Erick said as he turned to face his friends. "He just texted me saying he was called out to a burglary. So, he may be a while."

"Well, I'm turning in," Zolton said. "Maria, Delilah, once Keith gets back, you guys can go on patrol. Meanwhile, Erick, don't you gotta be somewhere!"

Erick looked at his watch.

"Snap! You're right!" he said. "I'm gonna be late for the tourney!"

With that, he ran to the elevator, and went down to the parking lot.

"Wonder how Keith's doing?" Zolton asked to no one.

_**They say that everything in life happens for a reason, even if we don't know what it is.**_

_**And sometimes that can come in the form the proverbial curveball, and throw us off guard.**_

_**I'm a victim of this such circumstance, maybe this made me better, maybe not.**_

_**Only time will tell.**_

The Fiend Roar Deity and Fiend Roar Deity Beast Monster cards were released in various Duel Terminals for the OCG.

Speed Spell – Over Boost

Normal Spell

Image: Four star zooming through the aura of Speed World

Effect: Gain 4 Speed Counters. During the End Phase, the number of your Speed Counters becomes 1.

_First used by Jack in episode 26 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's_

Speed Spell – Summon Speeder

Normal Spell

Image: Dunames Dark Witch flying out of a portal with the aura of Speed World in the background

Effect: Activate only while you have 4 or more Speed Counters. Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower monster from your monster Special Summoned by this effect cannot declare an attack this turn.

_First used by Hunter Pace in episode 17 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's_

Speed Spell – Shift Down

Normal Spell

Image: unknown

Effect: Remove 6 of your Speed Counters. Draw 2 cards. (This is the anime effect)

_First used by Yusei in episode 17 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's_

Speed Spell – High Speed Crash

Normal Spell

Image: burning wreckage on an race track as F1 racers drive by

Effect: Activate when you have 2 or more Speed Counters. Destroy 1 card you control and 1 card on the field.

_First used by Yusei in episode 72 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's_

Synchro Baton

Normal Trap

Image: Dewloren, Tiger Prince of the Ice Barrier being empowered by a rose-colored aura with Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier and Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier behind him.

Effect: Increase the ATK of 1 face-up Synchro Monster you control equal to the number of Synchro Monsters in your Graveyard × 600

_First used by Yusei in episode 64 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's_

Speed Spell – Angel Blessing

Normal Spell

Image: Celestia, Lightsworn Angel flying in Speed World.

Activate only while you control a 'Speed World' or 'Speed World 2' with four or less Speed Counters on it and your total Speed Counters are less than half of your opponent's Speed Counters. Draw four cards.

_Created by Digidramon and first used in Ch. 29 of his Seven Spirits fic. Creativecredit goes to him._

Speed Spell – Summon Accelerator

Normal Spell

Image: A Blue-Eyes White Dragon flying out of a portal over a Duel Runner with the aura of Speed World in the background.

Effect: If your Speed Counters are less the 5 and are less the half of your opponent's Speed Counters, Special Summon 1 monster from your hand. If the monster you are Special Summoning in this way is Level 7 or higher, discard 1 card from your hand.

Power Soul

Type: Fairy/Effect

Attribute: Fire

Level: 3

Effect: If this card is discarded from your hand to the Graveyard, select one monster on your side of the field and increase its ATK by 1000 until the end of this turn.

ATK: 0

DEF: 0

Star Reconfiguration

Normal Trap

Image: A straight line of 7 Level Stars down the center, with Dark Strike Fighter on the left with a green background and Ancient Sacred Wyvern on the right with a red background.

Effect: Pay half of your Life Points and Discard one card from your hand. Tribute one Synchro Monster on your side of the field and Special Summon one Synchro Monster from your Extra Deck that has the same Level as the Monster that you tributed

Speed Spell – Left in the Dust

Normal Spell

Image: Dokurorider racing off into the desert background as various cards fly about behind him.

Effect: If your Speed Counters are equal to or greater than your opponent's Speed Counters x3, pay 500 Life Points and remove from play 5 cards from either Graveyard. Then, draw 2 cards.

Speed Spell – Jump Start

Normal Spell

Image: Two Duel Runners connected to each other by jumper cables

Effect: If your Speed Counters are under 4 and your Life Points are under 1000, select one monster on your field. Increase your Speed Counters to equal the Level of the selected monster and your Life Points to equal the ATK or DEF of the selected monster (depending on the position it is in on the field).

Speed Spell – Trap Accelerator

Normal Spell

Image: A foot stepping on a gas pedal that is connected to a bear trap

Effect: If your Speed Counters are over 4 and at least double that of your opponent's, Activate a Trap Card from your hand.

_The above cards are my own creation. Creative credit goes to me._

Jalal the Dragonborn

Type: Warrior/Synchro/Effect  
Attribute: Light  
Level: 8  
ATK: 2,600  
DEF: 2,400

Card Description: Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner Monsters

This card cannot be Special Summoned except via Synchro Summon. Once per turn, during your Main Phase, you can pay half your Life Points to remove from play 1 Normal or Quickplay Spell or 1 Normal or Counter Trap from either Graveyard to place 1 Rune Counter on this card (max. 1). At any time during your or your opponent's turn, you may remove a Rune Counter on this card to duplicate the effect of the card that was removed from play as this card's effect.

_This card was created by Cyber Commander to be used for his Shadowchaser Fanfics and its spin-offs. Creative Credit goes to him._

Girl's Voice: "Well, now that you met one of Toledo's Shadowchasers, It's time you met one who is also one of Toledo's finest. (She draws a card) To call him, you would need to put up a…

**CH2. Hero Signal**


	3. Ch 2 Hero Signal

_I'm sorry it took so long to get this out, but College can hit you pretty hard. I'm gonna try and get the chapters out on a monthly basis from now on. Also, I am using the Sept 09 banlist unless I decide otherwise. Now, our feature presentation_

**SHADOWCHASERS: THE GLASS CITY SAGA**

**CHAPTER 2 HERO SIGNAL**

_**This is the city … Toledo, Ohio … the Glass City.**_

_**A city that's home to the Jeep HQ, and Tony Packo's Hot Dogs.**_

_**A city that's home to minor league teams like the Mud Hens for baseball and the Walleye for hockey.**_

_**A city that's called home to such legends as Jamie Farr, Sanctus Real, and Joe Reps.**_

_**And a city that's filled with as much crime as the bigger cities, and when that crime comes into play, in one form or another, that's where I come in. I carry a badge.**_

_**My name is Detective Keith Drusped, and I'm a cop.**_

* * *

Police sirens filled the air in the vicinity of Westfield Franklin Park heading towards Rudgate Estates. Groups of police issue cars and Duel Runners swarmed onto Nantucket Drive as they headed towards the crime scene.

"All units," called the dispatcher through head sets and scanners, "Be on the look out for a crimson Duel Runner wanted in connection with a burglary on Sutton Place."

As a team was heading north on Nantucket, one member stopped in the middle of an intersection and looked down the road to his right as he hit a button on his helmet to open a com-link.

"Dispatch," he said into his communicator, "this is Duel 44. I think I've spotted suspect Runner heading east on Southbridge Road. Advancing to investigate."

"Duel 44, Roger." the dispatcher called back.

With that, the officer turned his Runner and took off in the direction he thought the suspect's Runner was, and followed the road as it curved around and stopped at the next intersection it ended on. After he surveyed the area, he pressed the talk button on his com-link.

"Dispatch," he said, "this is Duel 44. Investigation for subject along Southbridge has produced no result. I'm advancing to rejoin my team."

"Negative, Duel 44," the dispatcher replied. "Auto scans from your Patrol Runner have detected the signature of another active Duel Runner in your vicinity. Signature matches that of a member of the Red Dragon duel gang."

'_What would the Red Dragons want around here?_' the officer thought.

Before he had a chance to answer himself, the sound of another Duel Runner engine revving broke his train of thought. He only had a split second to look in its direction before a crimson Duel Runner zoomed past him. The officer turned his Runner and took off after him.

"Dispatch! This is Duel 44!" He called out on his com-link over the roar of his engine. "I am in pursuit of a crimson Duel Runner. I believe it's the Runner used in connection with the burglary in this area. Request authorization to enter Duel mode to apprehend the suspect."

"Standby Duel 44," the dispatcher said.

While he waited for his request to go through, as they turned a corner onto Mockingbird Lane, the officer increased his speed in order to come close enough to the opposing Runner to get a good look at him. From a distance, the other rider would look like a normal oversized, buff thug with a weight problem. But the cop thought otherwise.

"Hey, you! Pull over now!" the cop yelled to the mystery rider, causing him to turn his head to look at the officer.

To someone with normal sight, the thug would look like … a thug, for lack of better words. However, this officer had a sight of another kind, one that allowed him to see that the thug had rather piggish features, including the upturned nose and the boarish tusks that stuck out of his lower jaw.

'_An orc?_' the officer thought, taking in the suspect's look. '_There is no record of any orcs in the Red Dragons. Must be a newbie._' Then it hit him. '_If he is, that explains a lot._'

"You want me to pullover?" the orc asked as he faced forward again. "Catch me if you can and make me copper!"

He twisted the throttle and accelerated further ahead of the officer.

"Dispatch to Duel 44," the female voice said, "you are clear to enter Duel mode to apprehend suspect."

"Copy that," the officer said with a slight smile as he hit a button on his dash.

"DUEL MODE ENGAGED."

His dashboard lit up as it shifted into its duel mode display.

Meanwhile on the suspect's Runner,

"OVERRIDING SUSPECT DUEL RUNNER. ENGAGING DUEL MODE."

"Hey!" The thug said as his Runner shifted itself into its Duel mode. "What gives?!"

"You must be new if you don't know these things," the cop told him. "Standard issue police Runners are equipped with an override device in case of situations like this in which neither side will give. Just our way of making sure fair play is insured."

'_So this is what he meant when he said let the cop call the duel,_' the thug thought to himself.

"Alright, YOU'RE ON!" he then yelled.

"Easy," the officer said. "Don't throw out your voice. You got a name?"

"They call me Piggy," said the other rider.

"Fitting name," the cop laughed to himself. "Mine's Keith, and now, as they say …"

"LET'S RIDE!" They both said in unison.

**(Piggy: 8000 SC: 0) (Keith: 8000 SC: 0)**

The two duelists turned off of one street to another with Piggy in the lead and Keith nipping right at his heels.

"Since I took the turn first," Piggy called out, "I'll be taking the first turn."

"That's gotta be the worst pun I ever heard," groaned Keith.

"Well, regardless," Piggy retorted, "this moves no joke. I summon the Goblin Elite Attack Force in Attack Mode."

As he placed the card on his Runner's Card tray, a portal opened, and four green-skinned goblins wearing knights-style armor appeared. (ATK: 2200)

"I'll just leave it at that for now,' Piggy concluded.

"That's it?" Keith said in surprise. "I've seen better starting line ups on a freshman high school baseball team."

He than drew a card.

**(SC: Piggy:1 Keith: 1)**

"I'll take my turn by summoning Gate Blocker in Attack Mode," he continued.

A beam of light flew off of Keith's Runner, and took the form of a large stone slab with what looked like the Eye of Wdjat on it, in front of Piggy. (ATK: 100)

"You think THAT is better than my Elite Goblins?!" Piggy asked in shock. "You must not be that good a cop to be doing this."

"You'll see just what it can do once you start your turn," Keith stated as he set two cards on his disc, and two face downs appeared before fading from sight. "Which you can do now."

"Don't mind if I do," Piggy said as he drew. "Now I'll …" That's when he looked at his dashboard display.

(**SC: Piggy: 1 Keith: 2)**

"Hey! Where's my speed counter?!" He cried.

"You won't be getting any, thanks to Gate Blocker," Keith explained. "As ong as it's on the field, you don't get any speed counters."

"Then I'll just have to tear down the stone wall and then knock you off your bike," Piggy retorted. "And to help me do this, I'm bringing out the original Goblin Attack Force."

In a flash of light, four goblins similar to the Goblin Knights wearing something like civil defense outfits, wielding large clubs appeared. (ATK: 2300)

"Now I'll …"

"Do nothing," Keith interrupted, "as I activated Hell Barricade."

The card flipped up, and the two goblin teams were then surrounded by a wall of purple energy on four sides.

"With this active," he continued, "you can attack me with any monster Level Four or lower. Which means your goblins are in lock-up."

"Fine," Piggy said with a snarl. "I'll just set this and call it quits." A facedown appeared next to his Runner.

"Not before the other effect of my Barricade kicks in," Keith said, as lightning shot out of the barriers surrounding Piggy's monster, and stuck his Runner. "See, for every Level Four or lower monster you have on the field, you now lose 500 Life Points." **(Piggy: 7000 SC: 0)**

"Now then," Keith continued, drawing.

**(SC: Piggy: 0 Keith: 3)**

"All I'll do this turn is switch Gate Blocker to Defense Mode and set a facedown."

The facedown card appeared next to Keith as Gate Blocker took on a bluish tint. (GB DEF: 2000)

"Let's see what you can do this time."

"With pleasure!" Piggy screamed, as he drew.

**(SC: Piggy: 0 Keith: 4)**

"I'll summon Assault Wheel in Attack Mode."

With the roar of an engine, a dark red robot with a large wheel in place of its legs and armed with lances in place of hands and rocket launchers on its shoulders appeared. (ATK: 2200)

"Don't think for a minute that this overgrown brick you put in front of me is going to save you. Assault Wheel can inflict the difference between our monsters points as damage. Assault Wheel, ROLL OUT!"

The machine's engines roared as it accelerated towards Gate Blocker, lances forward. It crashed right through the stone slab and sent rubble from it flying towards Keith. As the dust and rock pelted the officers Patrol Runner, his Life Points dropped.

**(Keith: 7700)**

"Take one down," Keith said as one of his facedowns flipped up and two more popped up. "Thanks to my Broken Blocker Trap Card, if you destroy one of my monsters whose defense if higher than its Attack, I can bring out two more copies of it."

With that, two beams of light flew off of the card and each took the form of another Gate Blocker in front of Piggy. (DEF: 2000) X 2

"Now, you do realize that you're digging yourself into a hole, don't you?" Keith asked. "Once you end your Battle Phase, you Wheel loses all its Attack Points. Plus, your Goblins will go on the defense once you're done attacking with them. Then, they'll be open targets for monsters."

"Not after I pay 1000 of my Life Points," Piggy retorted, "to use this."

His facedown lifted to reveal the image of Dark Runner Hades groaning in pain as his power seemed to leave him in streams of smoke.

"So…that's your plan." Keith said with a smirk.

"Yep," Piggy said as his Life Points dropped **(Piggy: 6000)**. Thanks to Skill Drain, all of my monsters negative effects are no more. Which means my Goblins can attack without having to go to defense afterwards." As he said that last line, his Goblin Elites lowered their face guards as the regular Goblins tapped their clubs against the hands in anticipation of attack.

"Goblins!" Piggy called out. "Tear down those walls!"

Pieces of rock flew in all over the place as the Goblins tore through the Gate Blockers like they were paper Mache.

"That'll do for now," Piggy said as he swerved through traffic onto another road and then onto the highway. "Let's see how you do now that I've stolen your effects away from you, your gonna have to work harder to stop me, coop."

"Long as I got cards," Keith said, keeping pace, "I have ways to apprehend you. My draw!"

**(SC: Piggy: 1 Keith: 5)**

"First," he said as a Speed Spell Card appeared before him, "I'll use the Speed Spell – Angel Baton to draw 2 cards, and drop 1."

He took two cards off the top of his deck.

_'Guess I don't really need Gonogo anymore,'_ he thought as he slid a card into his Graveyard.

"Next, I summon search strike in Attack Mode."

A portal opened and out flew a blue trench coat wearing man wielding two laser rifles. (ATK: 1600)

"Then, I'll use the Summon Speeder Speed Spell to bring out Jutte Fighter."

The speed spell card appeared and a glasses-wearing monk with a paper lantern on its back, wielding a jutte appeared out of the card. (ATK: 700)

"Now, I'll tune them together to bring out the Ace of Law Enforcement."

As he said this, the monk started to glow and then burst into two green synchro rings. The rings surrounded Search Striker and reduced him to an orange outline of its former self, which then dissolved into four stars that were in a straight line through the center of the rings. A beam of light passed through the stars and then expanded to the size of the rings.

"Report for duty, Goyo Guardian!"

The light faded to reveal a Kabuki actor swinging a jutte on a rope. (ATK: 2800)

"Now, you may have taken my Guardian's ability to bring your monsters to my field when he destroys them, but he still has a high amount of Attack and he's gonna use it on your Goblin Elites."

The Kabuki then started to twirl his weapon, and let it fly, hitting the front goblin and causing him to knock into the other knights like dominoes, before they all bust into pixels.. **(Piggy: 5400)**

"Now, I'll just set this, and call it a turn." Keith concluded as a facedown appeared.

_'I can't understand why he's taking the highway.'_ He thought, _'even trainee Red Dragons try to stay inconspicuous. Unless…'_

Keith punched in a couple of commands on his dashboard and activated his on-board GPS. Even though Piggy had fewer seed counters., he was still a good half Runner ahead of Keith, which means that his Runner determines the course as of now. And if Keith was reading the map right…

_'He's headed for the Skyway. He's trying to stall this out the best he can and win by forfeit.'_

See TPD Patrol Runners only operate within TPD jurisdiction. So if a Duel ends up crossing jurisdiction lines, then the Patrol Runner shuts down and it counts as a forfeit on the officer's part.

"I can't let him cross the bridge!" he whispered sharply with gritted teeth.

"You OK, copper?" Piggy said, breaking Keith's train of thought. "Cause you ain't gonna be soon enough. My draw!"

**(SC: Piggy: 2 Keith: 6)**

"Since Skill Drain only affects the cards on the field, I can still use the effects of monsters in my hand. Like the one that lets me bring out Beast King Barbaros cost free."

Instantly, a liontaur wielding a lance and a shield appeared running next to Piggy's Runner. (ATK: 3000)

_'He's right,'_ Keith told himself mentally. _'Without his Skill Drain card, Barbaros would 1900 Attack Points when summoned in that way. I think I know what his Dragon card is.'_

"Now Barbaros, smite his Guardian!" Piggy screamed, as the lionaur raised it's lance and ran forward a couple of feet before skidding to a stop, and changing directions to run towards the kabuki warrior, roaring. Barbaros then thrust his lance right into Goyo Guardian, causing him to bust into pixels. **(Keith: 7500)**

"Now you're wide open," Piggy continued, and if you still think you can win this, why don't my Goblins knock some sense into your head."

All four Goblins pulled a 180 and sailed towards Keith, each one hitting him with their club as they flew past. **(Keith: 5200 SC: 4)**

"And now I'll have Assault Wheel punctuate the point!"

With that, the robot spun around and accelerated towards Keith, slicing a lance arm across Keith's Runner.

"Grrah!" Keith grunted **(Keith: 2900 SC: 2)** "Hey, you scratch the paint on this thing and I'll make sure TPD sends you the bill."

"Whatever," Piggy said smugly, "Just make your move so I can end this."

_'I have to draw the right card,' _Keith thought as he stared at his deck,_ 'or else it's over.'_

Keith slowly brought the card to his face.

"Looks like my luck is about to change!" he then called out. "Why don't we see how good your luck is? I activate the Trap card, Loss or Gain!"

Keith's facedown lifted, and out of it flew the guy from the Card Shuffle card holding two cards, one in each hand.

"Let's play a game, Piggy," he continued.

"We're already dueling," Piggy joked. "You want to change tactics already?"

"I mean let's play a game within our game," Keith explained, "with my Trap. I can activate it only if I have two or less cards in my hand and one of them, and only one of them, is a monster. Now my friend here mixes his Trap with my hand and you have to pick a card from it. I'll explain what happens after you pick."

"What kind of cop plays by chance?" Piggy asked.

"One who's willing to bet it all to get his man," Keith said. "Now come on, you got a 50-50 chance. Right or Left?"

Keith could barely see the little drops of sweat on Piggy's brow as he tried to figure out what to do.

"RIGHT!!" he then yelled.

After a few nerve-wracking seconds the fancy dressed man flipped the card around to reveal it.

"Oh, so sorry," Keith said, "but you picked the monster."

It was then that Piggy took notice to the card art.

"Hey, wait!" He said in shock. "Isn't that…"

"Yep" Keith said back, "it's Elemental Hero Necroshade and since you picked him, due to the effect of Loss or Gain, not only do I get to keep in my hand, but I can also draw the same number of cards as that monster's Level." He took five cards off the top of his deck.

"Now, what do you say we use some of these? First, the Speed Spell-Count Up let's me gain two Speed Counters for every card I discard. I could drop them all, but some of these cards I need. So, I'll just ditch one."

He slid his Necroshade Card into the Graveyard and his Runner got a burst of speed **(SC: Keith: 5)** putting him neck and neck with Piggy.

"Now that I got enough speed counters, I'll play the speed fusion speed spell to fuse Elemental Heroes Wild Heart and Bladedge into this."

A swirling vortex appeared next to Keith's Runner along with a Native American-ish man and a man wearing golden armor. The two men were then sucked into the vortex, and in a flash of light, in place of the vortex, was, for lack of a better description, Wild Heart wearing pieces of Bladedge's armor. (ATK: 2600)

"Meet Elemental Hero Wildedge. He's gonna help we wrap this up, because he can attack every one of your cards."

"You mean he would if he could," Piggy interjected, "My Skill Drain is still in effect."

"Not for long," Keith retorted as his other facedown lifted. "Trap Stun will put your card on the firts until the end of this turn." Sparks started to fly from the thug's trap.

"Oh, NO!" Piggy screamed as he saw his trap. He then looked over to see Wildedge standing a little taller, like a weight was lifted from his shoulders.

"And I'm not done yet," Keith continued. "I play the Speed Spell-Half Size, and I'll use it to cut your Beast King Attack in half and add that half to my Life Points."

Barbaros became covered in a white glow as his power dropped. (ATK: 1500) The glow then shot off of Barbaros in a beam of light, and was transferred to Keith's Runner. **(Keith: 4400)**

"Alright Wildedge, put his monsters out to pasture with Infinity Edge Slicer!"

Wildedge thrust his armored are forward and unleashed a flurry of small blades out of a compartment in the armor. They sailed across the field, spinning at high speed until they shredded Assault Wheel to scrap and took out each member of the Attack Force. (Piggy: 4800) Wildedge then the sword off his back, charged, and sliced right through Piggy's Beast King. **(Piggy: 3700 SC: 2)**

"And I'll end it there," Keith said as Piggy's Runner dropped back a couple of feet, until his front wheel could touch Keith's back wheel.

"I'm not gonna let you win cop!" Piggy screamed. "I got too much riding on this!"

_'Yeesh, he really wants to be in this gang,' _Keith thought as Piggy ripped the top card off his deck with enough force that it could have ripped literally.

**(SC: Piggy: 3 Keith: 6)**

"I summon Fusilier Dragon, The Dual-Mode Beast in Attack Mode, and since your Trap Stun is done disabling my Skill Drain, it keeps its full power."

A bright flash of light behind Keith caught his attention. He turned his head to see what caused it and saw a futuristic tank formed to look like a dragon rolling after the two duelists on its tank treads. (ATK: 2800)

"Next, I play the Speed Spell-Overboost Card!"

As he slipped the card into a slot on his disk, his Runner got a big boost of speed.

**(SC: Piggy: 7 Keith: 6)**

"Now I'll put all of these Speed Counters to good use while I still have them with the help of the Rapid Shot Wing Speed Spell! This will give my Dragon an extra 100 points for each Speed Counter I got!"

Fusilier Dragon instantly gained a white glow. (ATK: 3500)

"But that is far from enough!" Piggy slid another card onto his disk as a Speed Spell card appeared next to him. "With the help of Power Baton, my Dragon will now gain the attack of a monster from my deck!" A card slid out of his deck and he took it and fitted it into his Graveyard. "Like my Cyber Archfiend for example!"

The dragon tank's glow got even brighter. (ATK: 4500)

"Now my Dual-Mode Beast, OBLITERATE HIS HERO WITH OVERCHARGED ELECTRON CANNON!!!!!"

The dragon tank unleashed a powerful blast from the four cannons it was armed with. The blasts connected with Wildedge and it reduced him to atoms as Keith's Life Points dropped. **(Keith: 2500 SC: 5)**

"Now I'll call it a turn, which means I my Speed Counters and my dragon loses its boost."

Which is what happened. (ATK: 2800) **(SC: 1)**

"But I'm not letting you stay ahead of me!" Piggy continued as his Runner slowed. Once he got close enough, he leaned back on his bike and kicked Keith right on the side of his head (lucky his was wearing his helmet) and Keith lost control of his Runner. Spinning out of control and reeling in pain over the whiplash he felt from the dirty move. Keith also fell off the highway, through the guardrail, and down to the street below if not for his quick reflexes which got him stable again, just in time to avoid a collision with a semi.

_'That dirty little punk,'_ He thought, _'Now he's trying to cheat his way out. Well, not today, tomorrow, or the next day, or the next week.'_ Keith gave the throttle of his Runner a hard twist, and took off in pursuit to catch the thug.

Meanwhile, with Piggy…

"HA! I don't even need to finish this. That cop is practically a good 20 miles back. So now, it's just smooth sailing until I cross the Skyway."

"NOT SO FAST YOU CHEATING THUG!" Piggy looked back in surprise as the cop he thought was miles behind him was now back though at least a Runner and a half length behind instead of the lead he would have had. "You think the low blow gonna help you reach the bridge faster?! You got another think coming! Besides, it's now my turn." Keith drew his card.

**(SC: Piggy: 2 Keith: 6)**

_'Since I used up my hand last time, I better stall for now.'_ Keith thought, and then said, "I'll just set this for now." A facedown then appeared next to his Runner, and then disappeared. "Go."

**(SC: Piggy: 3 Keith: 7)**

_ 'How'd he figure out about the bridge?" _Piggy asked himself. _'Regardless, he's persistent. I better end this quick.'_

"Since I used Power Baton last time I can't draw now," he told Keith, "but I already have what I need right here. I remove Barbaros and Assault Wheel from my Graveyard in order to bring out the big guns."

A portal opened up next to Piggy's Runner and out ran a version of Barbaros, only more muscular with black fur on the lion body and wielding a more advanced lance in each hand. (ATK: 3800)

"This is my Beast Machine King Barbaros Ür, and with it out, it's curtains for you, because with Skill Drain…"

"You monster can now inflict the Battle Damage he wouldn't have been able to without it." Keith interrupted. "I'm not some rookie you know."

"Oh, yeah," Piggy retorted. "Well, I not care what your Trap is, because now that I have two monsters out, one can force you to use it up, while the other finishes you off. Dragon Attack!"

Piggy's dragon charged up its cannons again, and fired.

"Go, Trap Card!" Keith called out as his facedown flipped. "Soul Sacrifice!"

A ghostly form of Wildedge appeared in front of Keith and took the hit from the cannons.

"Thanks to Soul Sacrifice," Keith said, "I can cancel your attack by removing a Warrior in my Graveyard from play."

"I already told you," Piggy said as Wildedge's ghost faded away, "I don'tcare, because now you're finished. Barbaros Ür! END THIS!"

The advanced liontaur did an about-face and charged right at Keith.

"You should care," Keith calmly stated, "because it lasts until the end of the turn."

"WHAT????!!!!!!!??" Piggy screamed in disbelief as the ghost of Goyo Guardian absorb the strike of the liontaur's lance.

"Fine," he then huffed. "Take your last turn. It won't help you because look…"

Keith checked his GPS. "We're almost to the bridge." He said in a low whisper. "Got to make this quick."

"Before I take my turn," Keith told Piggy, "my Trap has another power, which lets me draw one card for every two Warriors I remove." He then drew his card and then his Trap shattered.

"Now I'll take my turn."

He drew his card.

**(SC: Piggy: 4 Keith: 8)**

"Let's see what I can make with these. I play the Speed Greed Speed Spell, which lets me draw two cards since I got 4 Speed Counter and 1 extra card for every two additional Speed Counters."

He drew until he was holding a total of five cards after playing the card.

"Next, my Second copy of Speed Spell – Angel Baton, now you know what this does."

He drew two more cards, and then slid one card from his hand into his Graveyard to take him back to five.

"Then, I play the Speed Spell card known as Speed Gift. With this, I give you two Speed Counters and then I draw 3 cards."

Keith made his hand count seven as the two Runners seemed to even out.

**(SC: Piggy: 6 Keith: 8)**

"I think I have enough cards now," Keith chuckled. "So why not put them to use. I'll Summon Elemental Hero Burstinatrix in Attack Mode."

A black haired female in a red jumpsuit appeared next to Keith's Runner. (ATK: 1200)

"Then I'll set these and call it quits for now." Four facedown cards appeared before fading away.

"Finally," Piggy stated as he drew.

**(SC: Piggy: 7 Keith: 9)**

"Now I don't even have to attack to damage you, as I play the Speed Spell – Sonic Buster, hitting you with half of Barbaros Ür's Attack Points."

Lightning flew off of the stronger liontaur and struck Keith, causing his Life Points to take a nosedive **(Keith: 100 SC: 8)**

"But I am far from done; your Traps are obviously bluffs, so I'll have Barbaros Ür rip your hero apart."

The liontaur made what Piggy thought would be the final charge until…

"I activate Mirror Gate!" Keith yelled as the field was enveloped in a bright light. When the light dies down, Piggy saw that his beast still charging at the hero, but now the hero was on his side.

"Wha…Wha…Wha..?" Piggy stammered.

"Mirror Gate switches are monsters so that now Barbaros Ür is attack for me."

"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Piggy screamed as the beast swung its lance and destroyed Burstinatrix. **(Piggy: 1100 SC: 5)**

Piggy was in stone cold silence. He could believe his monster turned on him like that. _'If that was real, then maybe is others are,' he thought._

"I'll take this silence to mean you're done?" Keith asked. Piggy just nodded.

"Good," Keith continued as he drew.

**(SC: Piggy: 6 Keith: 9)**

"First, I'll activate Call of the Haunted to bring back Burstinatrix." He Trap lifted and the lady hero reappeared. (ATK: 1200)

"Next, I play the Speed Spell – Vision Wind to Special Summon Stygian Security from my Graveyard."

A weird-looking little blue fiend appeared next to the hero wielding a megaphone and a metal baton (ATK: 100)

"What are you going to due?" Piggy asked. "Are you going to tune them together?"

"Nope," Keith answered. "I going to fuse them, but before I do, I summon Destiny Hero – Doom Lord to the field in attack mode"

With that creature that looked like the Spawn mixed with Mavel's Mysterio appeared on Burstinatrix's other side. (ATK: 600)

"Did you say Destiny Hero?!" Piggy asked. "I thought that they went to the Grave with Aster Phoenix, or went to his protégé. How'd you get a copy of them?"

"Let's just say that he owed me a favor some odd years ago. Now I'll fuse them all together with Alternate Fusion to bring out my best guy."

He other Trap lifted, and all three monsters were sucked into it. The card then suddenly caught on fire.

"Ride spirit of vengeance, Elemental Hero Infernal Blaze Biker!"

A stream of flame shot out of the card and took form into a flaming skeleton wearing a spiked pair of leather gloves, spiked leather pants, Spiked Leather boots, and a spiked leather jacket riding a demonic looking chopper-style motorcycle. (ATK: 2950)

"Now, I'll activate Dust Tornado, and destroy your Skill Drain."

A wind storm shot through the field, and blew Piggy's Trap away.

"Now that that pain in the ass is gone, my Biker's effect comes into play, giving him 200 Attack Points for every monster in my Graveyard."

The fires the surrounded the skeletal biker started to burn with more intensity as his Attack Points skyrocketed. (ATK: 5150) IT was then the Keith noticed that they were on the Bridge.

"I'M NOT GOING TO LOSE THIS!!!" Piggy shouted as he hit a button on his Runner and it took off in a great burst of speed.

_'A Nitro Burst?!'_ Keith thought in disbelief. _'He's really not kidding around. Better make this quick.'_

"Blaze Biker, Finish this with Hellfire Shotgun Blast!" Keith called out.

Time seemed to go in slow motion the attack began. Blaze Biker took a flaming shotgun out of a holster on the side of his Cycle, twirled it around as he took aim, and fired a large fireball that sailed through the sky towards Piggy's dragon tank. Piggy just made it to the other side of the brigde's pylon when the fireball hit and caused the tank to explode in a flaming flurry of scrap metal. (**Piggy: 0)**

Steam poured out of Piggy's Runner as it stopped abruptly and caused Piggy fly out of his seat, over the front of his bike, and tumble a few feet away from it as the holograms faded away. He started to pick himself up off the ground to try and run to the jurisdiction border when Keith pulled up in front of him to cut him off.

"Going somewhere?" Keith asked. "You know that you just lost the duel, right?"

"That may be," Piggy said, "but I'll take you out the old-fashion way, cop." He started to pull a knife out of his pocket.

"Do you really want me to recite the whole Fair Fight Clause of the Great Treaty?"

"How do you know about the Treaty?" Piggy asked, dropping his knife in disbelief that a simple beat cop knew about the one thing that Keeps Shadowkin in line, so to speak.

"Geez, I thought my deck spoke for itself," Keith said as he pulled off his helmet to let Piggy get a full view of his face. He had black hair that was done in a military-grade crew cut as well as a goatee. He had a signs of age showing him to be in his late-thirties or early-forties. His hazel eyes stared down Piggy as he finally took notice to the scar on his check.

"Yo…You…You're a …Shadowchaser." He stammered.

"Give the man a cigar," Keith stated as he pulled a gemstone out of his uniform jacket pocket. "Looks like you're coming with me after all."

Piggy was babbling something not understandable as he faded away in the glow of the jewel Keith held. As Keith put his gem away, he Runner's Video Communicator beeped. He hit a button on his dash and on the screen appeared what looked like a normal short man with a thick beard to you and me, but to Keith he was a dwarf and his boss at TPD.

"Drusped, report." The chief said.

"Suspect has vanished into the shadows," Keith said back. The chief nodded in approval, for that was their code of apprehending a Shadowkin suspect out the job in case others were listening.

"Good job Detective," the dwarf said finally. "Come on back and get your things. You've had a long shift."

"Ten-four, chief," Dect. Drusped said with a yawn. "I'm out."

With that, Keith replaced his helmet, closed the video feed, and drove off

_**This world is full of crime, and it takes a strong group to clean up the mess that it makes.**_

_** But it takes a special group to clean up a mess that many cannot see.**_

_** I try to do the clean-up on both sides.**_

_** I may only be human, but sometimes it takes a guy who can handle one side to take care of something on the other side.**_

_** It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it.**_

* * *

Hell Barricade

Normal Trap

Image: hard to describe

Effect: Activate when your opponent Normal Summons a monster. During this turn, Level 4 or lower monsters cannot attack. During the End Phase, inflict 500 points of damage to your opponent for each Level 4 or lower monster they control.

_First used by Trudge in episode 75 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's_

Gate Blocker

Type: Rock/Effect

Attribute: Earth

Level: 4

Effect: As long as this card remains face-up on the field, your opponent cannot gain Speed Counters during each player's Standby Phases with the effect of "Speed World".

ATK: 0

DEF: 2000

_First used by Trudge in episode 3 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's_

Assault Wheel

Type: Machine/Effect

Attribute: Earth

Level: 4

Effect: During battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than this card's ATK, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points. During the end of a Battle Phase in which this card attacked, until your next Standby Phase, this card's ATK becomes 0.

ATK: 2300

DEF: 0

_First used by Syd in episode 76 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's_

Speed Spell – Angel Baton

Normal Spell

Image: An angel holding her hands close to a jewel on her dress.

Effect: Activate while you have 2 or more Speed Counters. Draw 2 cards. Send 1 card from your hand to the Graveyard.

_First used by Yusei in a special episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's_

Speed Spell – Count Up

Normal Spell

Image: A duel Runner's dashboard display gaining two Speed Counters

Effect: Activate when your Speed Counters are 2 or higher. Send any number of cards from your hand to the Graveyard. Gain 2 Speed Counters for each card sent to the Graveyard by this effect.

_First used by Trudge in episode 65 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's_

Speed Spell – Speed Fusion

Normal Spell

Image: Flame Swordsman and Dark Magician surrounded in light with the shadowy form of Dark Flare Knight behind them.

Effect: Activate only while you have 4 or more Speed Counters. Fusion Summon a Fusion Monster.

_First used byJack in episode 4 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's_

Speed Spell – Half Size

Normal Spell

Image: Hard to describe

Effect: Activate when you have 3 or more Speed Counters. Select 1 monster your opponent controls. Halve that monster's ATK and gain an equal amount of Life Points .

_First used by Jack in episode 59 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's_

Speed Spell – Rapid Shot Wing

Normal Spell

Image: a jetpack flying through the aura of Speed World

Effect: Activate when you have 4 or more Speed Counters. Target monster you control gains 100 ATK for each of your Speed Counters, until the End Phase.

_First used by Trudge in episode 12 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's_

Speed Spell – Power Baton

Normal Spell

Image: Swordstalker absorbing power through its sword from an unknown monster

Effect: Activate when you have 6 or more Speed Counters. Send 1 Monster Card from your Deck to your Graveyard to have 1 monster you control gain ATK equal to the sent monster's ATK until the end of the next Damage Step. You cannot conduct your normal draw during your next Draw Phase.

_First used by Kalin in episode 34 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's_

Speed Spell – Sonic Buster

Normal Spell

Image: an unknown man unleashing a shockwave at another unknown man

Effect: Activate when you have 4 or more Speed Counters. Select 1 monster you control whose ATK is less than twice your opponent's Life Points. Inflict damage to your opponent equal to half of that monster's ATK.

_First used by Trudge in Episode 3 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's_

Speed Spell – Vision Wind

Normal Spell

Image: hard to describe

Effect: Activate when you have 2 or more Speed Counters. Special Summon 1 Level 2 or lower monster from your Graveyard. Destroy it during the End Phase.

_First used by Yusei in episode 1 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's_

Stygian Security

Type: Fiend/Tuner

Attribute: Dark

Level: 1

Effect: When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, Special Summon 1 Level 1 Fiend-Type monster from your Deck.

ATK: 100

DEF: 600

_Released as a Promotional Card for __Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Reverse of Arcadia _

Alternate Fusion

Normal Trap

Image: Elemental Hero Flame Wingman surrounded by a vortex

Effect: Send Fusion Material Monsters you control that are listed on a Fusion Monster to the Graveyard and Special Summon that Fusion monster from your Extra Deck (this Special Summon is treated a Fusion Summon). That Fusion Monster is sent to the Graveyard at the end of the turn.

_First used by Jaden in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX manga_

Loss or Gain

Normal Trap

Image: The man from the Card Shuffle Spell card standing in front of the backs of three large Duel Monsters cards.

Effect: Activate only when you have 1 or 2 cards in your hand on exactly one of them in a Monster card. Shuffle this card in with your hand. Your opponent selects one of the cards in your hand are random, if the selected card in the Monster card, draw the same number of cards from your deck as the Monster's Level. If the selected card is this card or a Spell or Trap card, discard your entire hand and End your Turn.

Soul Sacrifice

Normal Trap

Image: Freed the Matchless General's ghost taking a Tyrant Dragon's flames for Command Knight and Marauding Captain

Effect: Activate when your opponent declares an attack. Until the End Phase of this turn, Remove from play one Warrior-Type Monster in your Graveyard to negate an Attack. During the End Phase of this turn, draw one card for every two Warrior-Type Monsters you removed.

Speed Spell – Speed Greed

Normal Spell

Image: the Goblin of Greed stealing Diskblade Rider's Motorcycle

Effect: Activate when you have 4 or more Speed Counters. Draw two cards. Draw one for every two additional Speed Counters you have.

Speed Spell – Speed Gift

Normal Spell

Image: Diskblade Rider tossing his weapon to a Chaosrider Gustaph

Effect: Activate when you have 4 or more Speed Counters. Your opponent gains 2 Speed Counters. You draw 3 cards.

Elemental Hero Infernal Blaze Biker

Type: Fiend/Fusion/Effect

Attribute: Dark

Level: 9

Effect: 1 "Elemental Hero" or "Destiny Hero" monster + 1 FIRE monster + 1 Fiend-type monster

This card cannot be destroyed in battle. This card gains 200 ATK for every monster in your Graveyard. Discard one card type from your hand (Monster, Spell, or Trap) and destroy a card on your Opponent's field of the same type.

ATK: 2950 DEF: 2400

* * *

Boy's Voice: Wow, now that was close. A few more miles and Keith would have lost. OK, so now you've met two of the older Shadowchasers so far,(draws a card) so now it's time you met the rookie of the team and the brain of the bunch. As he has to prove who truly is the...

**Ch. 3 Musician King**


	4. Ch 3 Musician King

_A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this out, on top of Freshmen Finals and the finale of a show I was a part of, writers block was a real butch and a half. Hopefully this will be worth the wait. This chapter goes out to two special people. First is the Duelist of Dawn. Thanks for showing off one of my guys and his deck in your story. Consider this as a token of my gratitude. Also this goes out a very, very good friend who graduated college this year. A good friend with a good heart, and an all around good guy. Congrats and good luck Will, You're gonna be great in Dayton. Now as the line from a famous musical goes, "Let's go! On with the Show!"_

**Shadowchasers: The Glass City Saga**

**Chapter 3 Musician King**

_**Who am I? Wow, that …That is an interesting question.**_

_** Uh, I'm human, that much is certain, though as my friends and I know, not everything is as it seems to the naked eye…or even an eye with glasses.**_

_** I'm 2l, and I'm already going for a Masters degree in Computer Technologies, while minoring in Duel Physics. Heavy stuff, right?**_

_** I'm a skilled hacker, but I don't use my skills to rob banks and mess with the stock market. No, no, I only hack to obtain info that could be relevant to a case.**_

_** Wha…Sorry? How is this relevant? Well, sometimes I feel like the group only uses me for my grey matter.**_

_** So to answer your question, my name is Erick Lorenzo, and I'm just a brain**_.

At the University of Toledo's Student Union, a large gathering of college students were going wild. One guy with a microphone stood on a stage trying to calm them down.

"Alright, alright, alright, y'all! Settle down! Settle down!" He said as they quieted down. "This is the moment y'all been waiting for, the Guitar Hero Jam Tournament Championship Match!" Cheers erupted once again. "Alright, alright, alright! Comin' to the stage, the challenger, the rookie of the year, here at this year's tournament! Erick Lorenzo!"

The crowd cheered as a young blonde-spiked-haired, blue-eyed man wearing jean shorts, sandals, a white and blue stripped short sleeve button-down shirt opened to reveal a white undershirt, and black-framed glasses walked onto the stage.

"Alright, Alright! Now, coming to the stage, the two time champion, looking for a three-peat. Ladies and Gentlemen! Hendrix McCoy!"

The crowd roared even louder as a man wearing typical punk attire, including an Anarchy shirt, with his hair in red and white Liberty spikes walked onto the other side of the stage.

Once the crowd's cheers finally died down, both men walked up to the MC.

"Alright, guys. This is a best of five songs match to determine who gets the fame of being the Guitar Hero King and the grand prize of $1,511, half of a total collection of $3,022, with the other half going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Since Hendrix is the reigning champ, he has first pick. After that, it's loser's pick. Now grab your guitars and get ready to rock."

The contestants went to their respective sides of the stage and strapped on their controllers.

"OK, Hendrix," the MC said, "What's our first song?"

"I figured we'd start off on a light note," Hendrix said with a low, British-accented voice. "Rock 'n' Roll All Night on Easy."

"Alright, let's get ready to rock," the MC announced. "Hendrix, you ready?"

Hendrix merely thrust his fist into the air, causing some cheers to escape the crowd.

"Erick, you ready?"

"Affirmative!" Erick called out, causing the crowd to laugh for a few seconds.

"Alright," the MC called, "rock on!"

With that, the MC walked off the stage, and the screen over the players lit up to match the display on the TV screens in front of each of them. The music started and as it went on, Hendrix acted like the typical rock 'n' roll guitarist, banging his head and dancing in time to the music, while Erick simply watched the screen, hitting each key as it came on to the screen, without looking at the controller at all. As the song finished, the MC came back onto the stage.

"OK, let's check out your scores," he said. The screen faded to black and then came up to the typical "end of song" score display on the game.

"And in Round 1, it's Hendrix with 92% of notes hit, and Erick with 99% of notes hit. Which means Erick takes Round 1."

A few cheers left the crowd but Hendrix just laughed it off.

"Heh, I just gave that one to ya, kid," he said, "but now the game is gonna go up a notch."

"Alright, Hendrix," the MC said to him, "since you lost the last bout, you pick the next song."

"Like I said," Hendrix stated, "let's crank this up. I'm selecting Rock You like a Hurricane on Ward."

"Oh, ho, ho!" stated the MC. "Hendrix has jumped right over the next level to the next level. Let's hope Erick can keep up. Hendrix, are you ready?"

Again, Hendrix thrust his fist into the air.

"Erick, are you ready?" The MC asked the blonde.

"Better believe it!" Erick said.

"OK!" the MC yelled out. "Rock on!" And he left the stage.

The lights dimmed and the game started again. As the music played, once again, Hendrix acted like a typical rock 'n' roll guitarist while Erick kept his eyes on the screen. Once the song was done and the lights came up, the MC walked back onto the stage and the score screen appeared.

"Alright, let's see how they did!" the MC exclaimed. "Erick had 96% and Hendrix …88%!"

"What?" Hendrix screamed, but it couldn't be heard over the cheers from the crowd.

Erick just graciously nodded and waved as the cheers died down.

"Alright, Hendrix," the MC said, "this is you…"

'THROUGH THE FIRE AND THE FLAMES ON EXPERT!" Hendrix yelled.

The comment prompted a few gasps to escape the audience. Even the MC was speechless for a little while.

"Expert TTFATF?" he asked. "But that's suicide! No one has been able to beat that without a cheat code! I know you want this, but you're already in the red zone! Not to mention the fact that your opponent is novice! This is an unfair…"

"Let's do it!" Erick interjected before the MC could finish. This comment brought even more gasps out of the crowd.

"A…are you sure about this kid?" The MC nervously asked off mic. Erick simply nodded.

"He's sure," the MC said, almost disappointed. "OK, uh Hendrix, are you …"

Hendrix thrust his fist into the air while keeping his stern look.

"Yeah, he's ready, um…Erick are you..." Erick shot the MC and the crowd a thumbs-up.

"OK, then ... um … uh… R-Rock On?"

You could have head a pin drop as the MC walked off stage and the lights dimmed for possibly one last time.

'_Now that the level is on expert,_' Hendrix thought, '_all I gotta do now is out last this snot-nosed, nerdy, punk, and this here tourney is mine._'

Both players kept a steely-eyed gaze at the screens in front of them, for Hendrix it was more of a death gaze. Then the music started. Their fingers flew across the buttons on their controllers. While Erick kept his eyes on his monitor and hit each button or button combo in time, Hendrix's eyes shifted between his screen and his controller and he was slipping fast. He was starting to sweat bullets and cramp up; meanwhile Erick, while missing a couple notes here and there, was cool and calm.

"They're nearing the midpoint of the song," the MC proclaimed, "and right now Erick's got a commanding lead over Hendrix."

_'Not for much longer,'_ Hendrix thought as he tipped his guitar to activate his gathered Star Powder, but it was also a signal to someone in the audience to put the cheat they had set up for this such occasion into play.

One man in the very back of the room, which was sparse since everyone but him was crowding around the stage, put on his own guitar controller, and switched it on. Now Hendrix had a groupie with him that was an expert at setting up a digital cheat. Before the actual start of this year's tournament, Hendrix had the guy install a transmitter into each of the stock guitars that were provided by UT for the contests who didn't sign that they had their own controllers with them. And the thing was that Erick was using one. That transmitter would jam all of Erick's controller's signals and would transfer the controller connection form Erick's to that of the mystery man. Once the unknown male pressed the Start button on his controller, all he had to do then was sit back and just let notes slid past him. What neither he nor Hendrix didn't expect was what happened next.

"OOW! CRAMP!"

The notes flew across the screen unanswered until…

**BOOM!**

**PLAYER 2 ROCKS!**

"OOOOOOH! That was one epic fail!" The MC called out through his mike. "The winner of this year's Guitar Hero Tournament is … Erick Lorenzo!"

The whole crowd in that auditorium went nuts, cheering for Erick as he set down his controller and waved to the audience. Once the cheers died down one scream was left in the silence.

"HE CHEATED!" The unknown man yelled in the back after stashing away his controller. "There's no way he could last that long on that song without looking at his controller once!"

"While I doubt he cheated," the MC stated, "you do bring up a good point. Erick, how did you manage to hit the right notes without even looking at your controller?"

"Oh, but I did look at it," Erick told them. "Before the first song started if you had noticed, I memorized the controller and the positions of the buttons."

"Oh, please," Hendrix said as he rolled his eyes.

"It's true!" Erick said defensively, his New Yorker accent becoming more apparent. "Least I ain't got someone standing out in the back of the room with his own controller, like a sore thumb wrapped in a pink bandage, ready to either play for you or screw me up!"

"Are you callin' me a cheater?" Hendrix hollered at Erick as he stomped towards him.

"If the shoe fits!" Erick retorted

"That does it, you lil' punk, I'm gonna…"

"Fellas, fellas, calm down!" The MC yelled as he stepped between Hendrix and Erick, preventing Hendrix from finishing his swing. "Alright, this is gonna get us nowhere. We got the room for a little while longer, so get your decks ready. You're going to settle this the ol' fashioned way."

"Dude!" A random vice rang out of the audience. "They're gonna duel!"

The whole crowd screamed and started chanting "DUEL! DUEL! DUEL!"

"I'm game if you are," Erick said claming down.

"Fine," Hendrix said, crossing his arms.

This brought even more cheers out of the audience.

"OK, gentlemen, grab your discs and let's get ready to duel!"

Erick and Hendrix walked back to their respective sides of the stage where their stuff was. Erick unzipped the duffle bag he had brought with him and pulled out a gun metal grey duel disc that looked like it was pieced together from spare parts. He then reached in and undid the zipper to the pocket his deck was in.

_'My deck may only be at 53.5 percent,' _Erick thought, _'but I think it might be enough for this.'_

Erick then strapped on his disc, put his deck in place, and started to walk back to center stage. On his way, he looked across the stage to see Hendrix walking to his spot wearing a silver and black Gibson Flying V guitar. Upon closer inspection, it was really a custom made duel platform with the playing field on the guitar's neck, and his deck placed where the rocker would strum.

"There's one extra condition I'd like to add in," Hendrix said as the two met center stage. "I usually duel with an ante rule in play. As I propose that the winner of this duel not only gets the loser's rarest card and any necessary support card. Deal?"

"Deal," Erick said. _'He just might have something that could amp up my deck.'_

"OK, then," Hendrix said as he turned on his duel guitar, "Let's do this."

"Alright," Erick replied, turning his disc on, "Get ready to get your game on!"

"LET'S DUEL!" They said in unison, drawing the opening hands.

**(Hendrix: 8000) (Erick: 8000)**

"As two-time champ of this tournament," the MC stated, "Hendrix had the first move."

"Hm," Hendrix simply smirked as he plucked the top card off his deck in the same motion one would strum a guitar, "I think I'll start out softly with a facedown and a defensive monster, and leave it at that for now." The two facedowns appeared before him, perpendicular to each other.

"Go slow if you want," Erick said as he drew, "but I'm more of a risk taker. I summon Hydrogeddon in Attack Mode."

With the card in place on his disc, a quadrupedal dinosaur made of hydrogen appeared before Erick. (ATK: 1600)

"Attack his monster!"

With a roar, the chemical dino released a stream of hydrogen aimed right at the mystery monster, disintegrating the card.

"Thanks for that," Hendrix told him, "Now I can use his effect. That monster your gas bag just took out was my Jukebox Hero Nirvana, and when he's flipped, as he was with your attack, I can now draw two cards and then take one card from my hand and put it at the bottom of my deck." And he did as he said.

_'Jukebox Heroes? That's new. I'd better be careful,'_ Erick mentally told himself. "I got an effect to use too, you know. When Hydrogeddon destroys one of your monsters in battle, I can then bring out one of its brothers."

In a burst of hydrogen gas, another Hydrogeddon appeared next to the first. (ATK: 1600)

"And since it's still my Battle Phase Hydrogeddon number two, hit him directly with Hydrogen Stream!"

The second gaseous dinosaur mimicked the motions of the first and released a torrent of gas that struck Hendrix square in the torso. Hendrix struggled to stand his ground against the solid vision of the attack as his Life Points dipped. **(Hendrix: 6400)**

"First blood goes to Erick!" the MC announced.

"Not bad kid," Hendrix said as the attack ended, "but I gotta say 'thanks' again. You've just activated by Damage Condenser, letting me ditch one card to bring out my Command Knight!"

In a fiery flash, a female knight clad in red armor appeared ready to face off with Erick's monsters. (ATK: 1200)

"And, being the smart guy you are, I'm sure you know what she can co."

Command Knight drew her sward and pointed it sternly at Erick.

(ATK: 1200-1600)

_'That's right,'_ Erick remembered, _'as long as she's on his field all of his warriors gain an extra 400 in Attack Points. If this new Hero archetype is like the others, this could be trouble.'_

"I'll set this and call it," Erick told Hendrix, as the card appeared.

"Now allow me to show you how to rock!" Hendrix yelled as he took off the top card of his deck.

"I summon Marauding Captain in Attack Mode!"

Appearing to Command Knight's right was an armor-clad, blonde-haired, male soldier wielding two broadswords and looking like he had already been through several battles as it was. (ATK: 1200-1600)

"And with his effect I'm calling Jukebox Hero Tom Sawyer to the stage."

On Command Knight's other side, a white fog rolled in, and from it appeared a brown-haired warrior with warrior silver armor and carrying a guitar that was tipped with what looked like a spear head at the neck. (ATK: 1900-2300)

"Looks like I got you out matched, mate, three to two," Hendrix snickered.

"That's what you think," Erick retorted.

"Oh," Hendrix laughed, "get cocky in the sight of defeat are we? Well, we'll just see how your tune changes when Tom Sawyer takes out one of your dinos. Go, Pride Spear!"

The armored guitarist charged Spear first at one of Erick's monsters, but was intercepted by a Trap Card.

"Sorry, but my Scrap-Iron Scarecrow blocks your attack and then resets itself," Erick explained.

"Looks like this is gonna have to be the hard way then," Hendrix said. "Captain…Command Knight…take them out!"

The two sword wielding warriors nodded to each other, and charged at their opposition. Both of Erick's Hydrogeddons unleashed their streams of gas, both streams hitting their marks. The female knight blocked the most of it with a shield while the war veteran used his two swords. Once they got close enough, they leaped high into the air, and slashed their blades down swiftly upon the atomic dinosaurs on the way back to ground level. All four creatures then burst into pixels.

"Heh, interesting move," Erick said, "It cost you about as much as me…maybe a little more."

When Hendrix took another look at his card, Tom Sawyer lost its boost.

(ATK: 2300-1900)

"Yeah, well," Hendrix told him as he set a card facedown, "they were just back-up singers. The lead vocal of this deck still lays in wait for the right time to bust out."

"Then I'm just gonna hafta hake sure he doesn't show up," Erick stated confidently as he drew. _'Trouble is I don't have anything in my hand that can stop him right now. My Scarecrow will only slow him down and unless I find a way to bring out…' _ It was then he looked at the card he just drew. _'This could work.'_

"I'll set two more facedowns and a defensive and call it." Three blank cards appeared with Erick's already facedown Scrap-Iron Scarecrow card.

"Giving up already?" Hendrix asked as he drew. "Scared cuz you can't bring out your Water Dragon anymore?"

"Water Dragon ain't my only card," Erick stated. "Each of my cards have gone through a long process of equations in order to make sure they are ready for any kind of situation."

"You really are a nerd, aren't ya?" Hendrix laughed. "Well, I think I'll put you in your place. I summon Jukebox Hero Bowie."

Appearing next to the spear-tipped guitar-wielding warrior was a read-haired guitarist with heterochromatic eyes carrying a normal guitar. (ATK: 1700)

"And now…" Hendrix stopped as a flash of light engulfed the field, and as it faded, it revealed an exact copy of Hendrix's bowie on Erick field (ATK: 1700)

"How'd you get a copy of Bowie on your field?" asked a shocked Hendrix.

"With the help of this," Erick showed him the card he was about to discard. "My Cloning Trap Card creates an exact genetic replica of the monster you just summoned."

"One thing we rockers hate." Hendrix said through tightly clenched teeth, "it's a copy cat. Tom Sawyer, take out that poor excuse of an impersonator with your Pride Spear."

The armored guitarist charged once again, and once again it slammed into Erick's Trap Card.

"Looks like you forgot about my Scarecrow," Erick smirked.

"Well, at least I can keep you from bringing out something stronger," Hendrix growled. "Bowie, rock his world!"

With a strum of his guitar, Bowie let loose a series of sound waves that blew away Erick's facedown monster.

"I end my turn." What he said next was not fit to print.

"You really need to watch your temper," Erick said as he drew. "Now that it's my turn I'll trade my Clone Token for something out of this world."

The copied musician dissolved in motes of light that then reformed in a rainbow colored portal. Then a gun-metal grey spaceship with a glowing orb in the center flew out. (ATK: 2300)

"What in the … A Big Core?" Hendrix exclaimed. "First you're playing around with a chemistry set and now you're playing video games? What are you trying to pull?"

"I'm not trying to pull anything. I'm just trying to have a little fun. Now, Big Core, shields up!" The ship was then surrounded by an energy field. (C: 3) "Now FIRE!" It then unleashed a volley of laser bolts that rained down on the normal guitarist, vaporizing him. **(Hendrix: 5800)**. Big Core's shield then started to dim. (C: 2)

"Now all I have to do is activate my facedown Boss Rush Card," the card flipped up to reveal itself, "and end my turn."

"So you want to take this to the next level?" Hendrix asked drawing his card. "Fine then, I sacrifice Sawyer to bring Jukebox Hero Kill Master to the stage."

The armored guitarist disappeared and in his place appeared a cowboy with black shades and a silver bass guitar. (ATK: 2400)

"Attack his spaceship!"

The cowboy started to strum a melody on his bass. The soundwaves it created sailed through the air, colliding with Big Core's energy shield, causing it to dim even more. (C: 1) **(Erick: 7900)**

"Now I set one card facedown and take a break meaning that, now, Kill Master's effect comes into play, giving me 600 Life Points." Hendrix was surrounded in a golden aura. **(Hendrix: 6400)**

"OK, let's see what I can do," Erick called as he drew_. 'Even if I could attack with Big Core, I don't really want to lose that last counter. I don't think my Scarecrow's gonna be much use since Boss Rush and the counters will supply a slight stall. So…'_

"I'll play my Blasting Van spell card, destroying my facedown Scarecrow to draw two cards."

His facedown burst into flames and then exploded as he took his two cards.

'_This could be useful later,'_ he thought as he looked at one of his drawn cards, which he then set. "Your move."

"That's all you gonna do?" Hendrix asked, drawing. "Depressing. Maybe I can help us both out by playing Spellbook Inside the Pot. I trust you know how this works." He drew three cards.

"Naturally," Erick said as he drew his.

"Now I'll play Graceful Charity, drawing three cards, and discarding two."

'_I wonder why he did that,'_ Erick thought. _'Must have had a bad hand.'_

"Now to bring out one of the big hitters of my deck. I summon Jukebox Hero JB."

What appeared on Hendrix's field next was a man wearing a plain gray shirt and teal jeans holding a modern guitar with letter "JB" on it with a cloud and thunderbolts with it. (ATK: 1400)

"That's your heavy hitter?" Erick quizzingly stated. "Course I should wait until I see what he can do."

"Too right!" yelled the now very annoyed rocker. "Once JB's out, I can bring his partner back from the dead. Meet his friend, KG!"

Next to JB appeared a bald, fat man in a plan yellow shirt and blue shorts appeared carrying a modern, tan guitar. (ATK: 1200)

"One of your discards I assume," Erick said, still wondering what he was planning.

"Took you long enough to figure that out. Now let's put them together," Hendrix said, revealing a card in his hand to be Polymerization. "I fuse JB and KG together into Jukebox Hero Tenacious D!"

A bright light engulfed the two monsters and when it faded they were standing closer together and were wearing hardcore, black leather stage costumes. (ATK: 2600)

"Now how about I show you what they can do. Tenacious D, take out that shield!"

The rocker pair unleashed a flurry of sound waves that struck the ships shield and shut it down. (C: 0) **(Erick: 7600)**

"Now Kill Master, ground that antique game boss."

The cowboy rocker once again let loose his own stream of sound waves that struck the ships hull dead-on. **(Erick: 7500)**

Explosions stated to rock the spaceship until it shattered.

"I'll stop there and gain my 600." Hendrix finished as he was again covered in the golden aura. **(Hendrix: 7000)**

"I get something, too," Erick chimed in. "On the End Phase of a turn where a 'B.E.S.' or Big Core was destroyed. I can bring in a new one out to play. Descend, B.E.S. Covered Core!"

A new portal opened, and out flew another galactic battleship. This one looking more like a stereotypical UFO with a rotating panel that provided extra protection for its core. (ATK: 2500)

"Now let's see if I can turn this around!" Erick drew. "Covered Core, attack his Wild West reject."

The rotating panel didn't seem to hinder the Starcrusier as it launched a barrage of missiles from out of nowhere.

"Nice try, but that is denied!" Hendrix hollered as his facedown lifted, revealing it to be Negate Attack. A force field surrounded Kill Master, taking the front of the missile barrage.

'_OK, time to recalculate here,'_ Erick thought as he looked over the seven cards in his hand, and two trap cards in particular. _'My horn's gonna be of more help in the long run, but I better play on his nerves and make him sweat.'_

"Two face down!" Erick called, setting the card and signaling his turn's end.

"So much for that, eh?" Hendrix laughed as he drew. "Tenacious D, give that ship a taste of your Facemelter!"

Hendrix's fusion monster started to play its melody again and as the sound waves made contact with the ship's hull, it started to melt like was over a fire before it burst into pixels. **(Erick: 7400)**

"Now, Kill Master, blow him away, and show him that you mean it!"

With that, Kill Master took off his guitar, charged at Erick, and clubbed him in the gut with the broadside of his guitar. He then leapt back to his side, as Erick took a knee to catch his breath. **(Erick: 5000)**

"That's enough damage for now. So I'll set this and get my boost." Hendrix's newest facedown appeared on his field as he was covered in the golden aura for the third time. **(Hendrix: 7600)**

"Looks like Erick could be in trouble!" the MC called out. "Not only did he lose his commanding lead, but if he doesn't do something fast, Hendrix will just get more powerful!"

"Not on my watch!" Erick yelled as he stood back up. "I use Boss Rush to bring out one of my higher class Starships, and that's B.E.S. Big Core MK-2."

Once again, the portal opened, and out flew a gun metal gray ship with red strips and two, count them, two cores. (ATK: 2400)

"And what's special about this one is that it gains it's shield when it's Special Summoned instead of when it's Normal Summoned." The ship was then surrounded by its own glowing force field. (C: 3)

"Now, it's my draw!" After taking a look at the card, he grinned from ear to ear. _'Perfect! This is just what I need to speed things up.'_

"I play the continuous spell card, Item Ship!"

An old fashioned merchant's stand appeared on Erick's field with a dark-skinned, turbine-wearing man behind it.

"This card can actually benefit both of us. At the price of a grand in Life Points, we can take anyone card we want from out decks on our turn. Allow me to demonstrate."

As Erick's Life Points dipped, a card popped out of the bottom of his deck. **(Erick: 4000)**

"Good thing, I used this to get it," Erick said as he took the card. "Judging from its position, I probably wouldn't have got it for a long time." His deck reshuffled itself once again as he showed Hendrix the card he took.

"Oi!" Hendrix yelled out as he recognized the card. "That's a . . . "

"A Satellite Cannon,' Erick stated confidently. "Guess that means you're kind a looking down the barrel, huh?" He added the card to his hand. "But, right now, let's focus on the current task at hand, shall we? Because now I'm taking out your life support system with my upgraded Big Core!"

The large ship charged up its six laser Cannon, and on Erick's command of "FIRE!" it unleashed six brilliant streams of light that both struck and surrounded Kill Master until he was vaporized. Due to it using up some of its energy, its shield dimmed slightly (C: 2)

"True, I may have lost more than you this turn in total, but now you won't be uping your lead without working at it. I end my turn."

"So you think just 'cause you cut my flow of Life Points you have the upper hand?" Hendrix laughed as he drew, "That's a good joke. Tell me another."

"You're a very beautiful person," Erick said flatly, prompting a few snickers from the audience!

"Ho, Ho," sarcastically laughed the now very annoyed rocker. "Tell it to my Comrade Swordsman of Land Star."

What appeared next was a somewhat familiar monster, as the little extra terrestrial swordsman, made famous by Joey Wheeler, showed up with a determined look on his face. (ATK: 500-900) (JHTD:2600-3000)

'_Terrific,'_ Erick grimly thought. _'Now he not only has a Tuner, but one that's a Command Knight Poser.'_

"Next, I think I'll pay a visit to your Item Shop." His Life Points dropped a little as he took a card that popped out of the middle of his deck. He flipped the card around to reveal the image of a black flying V guitar.

"Now I'll bring about even more trouble by giving Tenacious D my Clementine Equip Spell."

The black guitar appeared in the hand of the new KG. (ATK: 3600)

"Now, Tenacious D, ROCK THE HOUSE!"

The two-person fusion monster got ready to go to work when . . .

"Sorry," Erick butted in, "but it's time for your monsters to head back to backstage, cuz they're a little overworked, or at least they will be with the help of my trap card."

The facedown card he had set back when he played Blasting Vein lifted up to reveal a demonic scientist receiving a facefull of energy from a computer screen. At the sight of the card's image made Hendrix go wide-eyed.

"You're kiddin' me!" Hendrix shouted. "You can't have that card out here now!"

"Oh no?" Erick retorted, "Well then what is this, a misplaced Kuriboh? HA! Keep dreaming! Back on task, thanks to my Overworked Trap, all monsters whose Attack is higher than normal are now destroyed."

In an incredibly loud and flashy explosion, Hendrix's monsters were all destroyed.

"Looks like you're gonna have to start over, bub," Erick chuckled.

"Not quite," the rocker duelist stated, as two cards slid out of his graveyard slot which was set in the Valley of the V shape his guitar made. "Thanks to the effect of Tenacious D, JB and KG get an encore performance."

"Sorry, Mac," Erick said, gesturing to his facedown cards, "but KG is gonna be doing this solo. I activate the Black Horn of Heaven!"

"No!" Hendrix shockingly shouted as the Trap flipped. "How?"

"When you started playing monsters I didn't recognize," Erick explained, "I started to take a close look at the cards you played, the face-up ones anyway, and read their stats every chance I got. Once I saw this card in my hand, I knew just how to put an end to your cycle cards." The two rock stars that Hendrix pulled from his Graveyard started to appear on his field. "Now, thanks to my Trap, JB's return trip has been revoked."

With a long low note, air blasted out of the card and blew JB into particles while KG stared at the spot where his partner once was with wide-eyes and a slack jaw before turning a hateful gaze to Erick. (ATK: 1200)

"Got anything else you'd like to try?" Erick asked.

"Yeah," Hendrix called back, not backing down. "I might not be able to fight you, this turn, but I can bring out Summon to take you out next time. I activate Call of the Haunted to bring my Comrade Swordsman back from the grave."

The fairy-ish warrior reappeared with fore in it's eyes as he and the bald rocker next to him got a power boost. (ATK: 500-900) (ATK: 1200-1600)

"Next, I discard my Noisy Gnat to give KG an amp-up of another kind."

As the rocker star wannabe slid a card into his Graveyard, KG started to radiate a new kind of energy. (Level 4-5)

"Now, I'll give KG a tune-up with the help of my Swordsman."

With a swift, downward swing of his sword, the Landstar Warrior faded into three stars that expanded into the green ring known to appear in a Synchro Summon. The rings surrounded the bald guitarist, reducing him to an orange framework and then further into five slowing stars, all eight objects where then covered in a pillar of light.

"I Synchro Summon Colossal Fighter!"

The pillar faded to reveal an intimidating figure, a practical golem of a man with a green visor for its eyes. (ATK: 2800)

"And he's really gonna rock your world, cuz with every warrior in our Graveyards, he gains 100 Attack."

The large warrior cracked his knuckles as his power increased. (ATK: 2800 – 3700)

"You're lucky I had to leave my Battle Phase to do this, otherwise this would be over. Your move."

'_OK, there's something wrong here,'_ thought Erick_. 'I know for a fact I have no warriors in my Graveyard, but I'm sure he's got some more Monster Cards in his Graveyard. Either there's a glitch in one of our systems, or there's more to the Jukebox Heroes than I thought. I'll have to check it out later. Right now I better finish this.'_ He drew his card and smiled when he saw what it was.

"Alright," he said, "Looks like I just got the last variable for this formula."

"What are you driving at?" Hendrix asked, irritated at the fact that his opponent was treating this like a science project. Erick simply flipped around the card he just drew to reveal its artwork.

"Another Satellite Cannon?"

"That's right," giggled Erick, as he grabbed three other cards in his hand, "and you know what they say, Hendrix, 'Good things of ten come in threes.'" He showed the three cards to Hendrix, revealing two other Satellite Cannons and a Polymerization.

"How did. . . "

"I've had the first Cannon and the Fusion Card in my hand since the first turn," Erick explained, "or didn't you notice that the least amount of cards I had was two." He slid Polymerization into one of his spell & Trap Card Zones, and a swirling vortex appeared above his field. "Now I fuse together all three Satellite Cannons." He held the three cards high in the air as three large satellites appeared in the vortex. They started to swirl with the vortex until the whole ceiling was covered an a blinding light which faded to show that the ceiling was replaced with a view of the night sky, only this one had a dew planets visible.

"Ahh. . .space. . ." said a peaceful Erick, looking like he was in his element, "The Final Frontier."

"Oh, drop the Star Trek reference, will you?" snapped Hendrix. "Where's your big, bad monster."

Erick chuckled at the question. "Look up."

Hendrix face turned to a look of confusion as he looked toward where the ceiling "was", and saw the bottom end of an even larger and more high-tech satellite than the ones used to summon it. (ATK: 0)

"What you happen to be looking at is Satellite Laser Balsam, a Blue-Eyes among Machines," Erick continued.

"Really," Hendrix said unimpressed. "From its Attack score I'd have never guessed."

"Maybe you'll get it at the end of my turn," Erick said, "but before I do that, I'll set this, and then take a Spacegate card from my Item Shop and set it as well." (Erick: 3000) "Then end my turn on that, which means Balsam now gains 3000 Attack Points."

Balsam's card appeared on Erick's field before its card art changed into an energy power counter which jumped from 0 to 3000. (ATK: 3000)

Hendrix grinded his teeth together. _'How could a runt like that have a card like that in a deck like that?'_ he thought angrily_. 'Regardless, he still doesn't stand a chance of topping me and my rare Heroes with his mish mash of cards. Still, I better ground his card, but not with this.'_ He drew his card and looked at it. _'This might help then.'_

"I'll just put up a little security this turn.' Hendrix stated as two cards appeared perpendicular to each other on his field.

"That's all for now."

Erick chuckled a little as he drew. "Not you smartest move, buddy. See, Balsam up there is armed with a powerful laser, so powerful it can pierce through your defenses. Balsam, Convert Power to weapons and charge to max!"

The large tube on the lower end of the satellite started to glow as it began to fill with energy.

"Fire Galactic Laser Omega at his facedown monster!" Erick commanded.

The giant machine seemed to re-position itself in the 'sky' before all of the energy came together into a single point at the very bottom of its body. The energy was released in a beam of concentrated light that struck down the rocker's unknown monster. Everyone in the room was blinded by the bright flash that followed the strike, and felt the force of the shockwave. After about a minute or so, the light died down revealing that a few people in the front row, as well as the MC, were knocked onto their butts, but the most surprising thing was that Hendrix was standing tall with his life points unchanged, and five cards in his hand.

"How…" Erick stuttered.

"..did I walk out of that without a scratch?" Hendrix smugly finished for Erick. "Simple. When you launched your attack, I activated my facedown Defense Draw, negating the damage with a draw of a card."

"But you have five cards!" Erick screamed.

"That's because the monster you attacked was a Morphing Jar." Hendrix laughed. "I think you know what that means, smart guy."

Erick knew exactly what that meant as he slid what was left of his hand into his graveyard and drew fresh.

'_Hm,'_ Erick thought as he looked at his five new cards, _'Not bad.'_

He then took one card and set it on his disk as it appeared face down. He nodded to indicate that he was done as his space ship repositioned itself to a lower point,

(DEF: 1100) and his satellite recharged.

"A whole new hand and you go on the defensive?" Hendrix snickered. "You do realize that that wouldn't happen if you specialize your deck, don't you?"

"Two names: Yugi Muto and and Seto Kaiba" Erick said, counting the names with his fingers.

"What about them?" Hendrix asked.

"Yeah," the MC asked a little more curiously. "What about them?"

"They're decks didn't follow any kind of specialization and they ended up becoming the best duelist of their time," Erick explained.

"The key words there," Hendrix said under whelmed, "are 'of their time'. They wouldn't last in today's world. Just like you won't last in this duel!" He forcefully pulled the top card off his deck.

"I play Pot of Avarice, trading five in the Grave for two from the deck."

He took five cards that popped out of his graveyard, slid them into his deck which auto-shuffled, and then drew two cards.

"Now," Hendrix said as he browsed over the seven cards in his hand, "let's have some fun. I'll bring out another copy of my Marauding Captain to play."

The grizzled war vet appeared once again on the rocker's field. (ATK: 1200)

"Then he brings out another friend of his named Freed, Freed the Brave Wanderer."

A tall, imposing warrior with long, blonde hair wearing a knight's armor and a green cape appeared, drawing his sword. (ATK: 1700)

"Now I'll use his ability, removing two Light Monsters, like Jukebox Heroes Nivana and Kill Master, from play to cut off your connection with your satellite."

Two orbs of light flew out of the rocker's graveyard into his warrior's sword, causing the blade to glow. With an upward swing, Freed launched a cresant of light that sailed across the stage and cut Balsam's card corner to corner, causing it to shatter and the outer space image above them to fade away.

"Now, with the help of Double Summon, I'll sacrifice my warriors to bring out Jukebox Hero Prince of Darkness."

The warriors dissolved into a black fog that covered Hendrix's field. The fog lifted to reveal a brown-haired man in dark robes and dark, circular shades holding a microphone. (ATK: 2500)

"Now I'll drop a grand in Life Points." (Hendrix: 5600)

"What's that for?" Erick asked. "Payment to my shop?" The shopkeeper greedily rubbed his hands together at the thought of another customer.

"As if." That comment caused the seller to go slack jaw. "I got all I need right here. The thousand is just to use this," He flipped around a card in his hand, revealing it to be Instant Fusion, "to being out this."

In a burst of sound, a familiar, at least to those who have been dueling for a while, a monster appeared wearing battered jeans and a red bandana that held back his bushy blonde hair. In his hands was a red electric guitar. (ATK: 1750)

"What would a music deck be without the Musician King? And before you say anything in regards to him not attacking or to him being destroyed, he's not gonna be stickin' around anyway," He held up another card in his hand, "at least not as himself." He slid the card into the neck of his Duel Guitar and it appeared on the field as a spell card depicting a bear trap attached to two rockets. "I play Trap Booster, discarding Ghost Gardna to play Metal Morph straight from my hand." The trap appeared on his field and Musician King's body gained a metallic sheen. (ATK: 2050)

"Now to take my rocker to a higher level! I give you, the one . . . the only . . . HEAVY METAL KING!"

The rock star monster glowed in white light. When it faded, he was now wearing heavy eye makeup, combat boots, and a black leather jacket with spiked shoulder pads; and holding an electric bass guitar. (ATK: 2050)

"I'll admit that that's an improvement," Erick stated with a slight smirk, so to hide the sweat on his brow, "But in the long process you went through to do all of that, your Fighter lost a few points." (CFATK: 2600)

"Maybe so," Hendrix said, not looking worried in the least, "but he still has enough zing behind his punch to go to work in your ship. Colossal Fighter, Attack!"

The warrior took a giant leap forward, pulling his right fist back as he flew. Once he got close enough, he trusted it for ward, putting all he could behind it, and hit the ship's shield, causing the ship to lose some power. (C: 1)

"Thanks," Erick said as his facedown lifted. "Now I can reap in benefits just like you can. You remember me setting space gate don't you? Now every battle gives this card a Gate Counter, and I activated it right when you called your attack." Upon closer inspection, Hendrix could see a little white star orbiting the card. (GC: 1)

"It doesn't matter what you bring out now, not with the band I've gathered. Heave Metal King, give him a taste of your musical talent." The musician started playing his guitar, playing some random melody that popped into his head. "And, though it hardly matters, he gains half of your monster's attack when he attacks." Right as Hendrix finished saying that, the hard core rocker hit the note he was aiming for, releasing a stream of sound waves that flew across the upgraded core ship's shield, and causing the shield to finally shut down as another star started orbiting Erick's Trap Card.

(C: 0) (GC: 2)

"Now Prince of Darkness, ground that thing of good!"

The robed man slid his mic up his sleeve and swung his arms in a chaotic, yet planned fashion before bringing them so that his palms faced him, slowly bringing them up to face level. As he did this, two dark hands rose out of the ground under the cruiser until the two cores rested in their palms. The dark Prince closed his hands, and at the same time the darks hands wrapped their fingers around the cores crushing them into nothing. The loss of the two cores then lead to the entire ship being rocked by a series of small, yet violent explosions that tore it to scrap metal. The scattered pieces of the destroyed ship faded away as a third star started to orbit the space gate. (GC: 3)

"That'll do for now," Hendrix stated as a portal opened over Erick's field and yet another ship descended. This one was armed with two long metallic tentacles and had its main body covered in some kind of crystal. (ATK: 2100)

"How many of these stupid toys do you have in your deck?" Hendrix asked, irritated that there was no end of this line of monsters.

"As many as needed to get the job down," Erick told him. "In your case, Crystal Core's the last one."

'Thank God for that,' Hendrix thought as he rolled his eyes.

Erick drew his card, and once he saw what he drew he smiled even more than ever.

"Time to go from single-player mode to co-op mode," he shouted.

"And just how do you plan on doing that?" Hendrix laughed. "With Boss Rush on your field, you can't Norman Summon."

"I know the capabilities of my cards," Erick told him, "and I know the ways around them. First, I'll make a purchase."

The shop owner was still in a daze as he pulled a card from Erick's deck and handed it to him. (Erick: 2000)

"Then, I think I'll copy you." He showed Hendrix that the card he got was Instant Fusion, and as he set the card into his disk, a Musician King appeared on his field.

(ATK: 1750) (Erick: 1000)

"What good will he do you?" Hendrix asked, confused by the move.

"Maybe this will help you figure it out,' Erick said as his Trap lifted, revealing itself to be Level Retuner, and his rocker gained a glow. (Level: 3)

"So you're gonna Synchro Summon are ya?" Hendrix asked not impressed. "Good luck. You got no Tuner."

"How quickly we forget what cards are on the field."

Hendrix cocked an eyebrow at that comment before realization made his eyes almost pop out of his head.

"Your Spacegate,' he softly said.

"The man just answered the Million Dollar Question. Let's show him what he's won folks, an all-expense paid butt kicking."

The Trap vanished at the Stars that were orbiting it merged together into a rainbow color portal. A microscope flew out of the portal, and then took on a robotic form. (ATK: 800)

"Your deck really is all over the place," Hendrix said, calming down as he examined the field. "You may have had me going for a bit there, but you got too many Levels. There's no Level Eleven Synchro monster."

"Did I say that I was done?" Erick asked playfully. "I still gotta show you how I normal summon with Boss Rush on the field. Answer: I get it off the field. And how do I do that here? I blow it away with Heavy Storm."

Sliding the card into a slot on his disk, a strong wind started to sweep the stage. It lifted the Arabian Man in the Item Shop off. He scrambled and grabbed at the air before his hands gripped a post holding up his shop's canapé. He cried as he watched all of his trinkets get sucked up by the storm, before he, his shop, and the Boss Rush Card were swept away as well. Once all that was gone, the wind died down.

"Now I'll Normal Summon Turbo Synchron."

A small green monster that looked like a robot with go-kart for a body took a place next to the Musician King. (ATK: 100)

"Looks like he's not going for a big Synchro," the MC said, "but two smaller ones. Question is – what combination is he going for?"

"Watch and learn," Erick said. "Formula one takes one whole part of a Turbo Synchron and mixes it with three fifths of a Musician King."

The little machine Tuner transformed into a star that shot up to the ceiling with the rocker monster leaping after it. The star started to orbit the musician until the star became a Synchro Ring and the Musician King was reduced to three stars. Once the stars were aligned through the ring, they along with the ring were enveloped by a pillar of light.

"This equals out to a monster that is tied for the second lowest level of Synchro monsters. Come on line, Armory Arm."

The light dispersed to reveal robotic gauntlet with five sharp fingers.

(ATK: 1800)

"Now for the second formula, which requires my Morphtronic Scopen and Crystal Core to be synchronize in order to bring out my favorite monster."

The microscope-themed robot glowed and became three stars, which became three Synchro Rings that slammed down on top of the crystallized ship, surrounding it and turning it into an orange outline, which then turned into five stars before they were covered in their own light pillar.

**"An experiment thought failed and forgotten,"** Erick chanted**, "reactivates bringing the wrath of the virtual world to reality. Let the game become real. Synchro Summon! One credit inserted! Game Start! Gamebuster TX-2000J!"**

The light faded to reveal a, for lack of better terms, and I kid you not, a video game machine like at an arcade with tank treads, two three-clawed tentacle arms, and a scanner of some sort on top. (ATK: 2950)

"Man, my duel guitar must be malfunctioning," Hendrix said, rubbing his eyes. "Either that or I'm just tired from this long duel. I thought it said that that wimp had close to 3000 Attack."

"Look again, bub," Erick said smirking. "It did."

"WHAT?" Hendrix screamed. "HOW CAN THAT BE?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised what modern technology can come up with," answered Erick. "Now, I upgrade Gamebuster with Armory Arm."

The game machine closed its right claw as the gauntlet slid over it. (ATK: 2950)

"Hope you're ready, Hendrix, because this is the final level. Gamebuster, prepare simulation!"

The game machine beeped and whirled in acknowledgement, like R2-D2, and the sensor started to glow. In seconds, a pixilated image of a man in ice blue ninja grubs appeared in front of it.

"Gamebuster versus Heavy Metal King. Final battle. FIGHT!"

The ninja started doing a series of moves before releasing a blue mist from his hands. Both Hendrix and the upgraded rocker monster smirked as the mist lifted to reveal that Heavy Metal King was frozen solid, Hendrix was in total shock.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Hendrix screamed at full force.

"Thought it was a hologram didn't ya?" Erick giggled. "You should've listened a little more intently at my Synchro Chant. When Gamebuster is used, the games become real. Now, FINISH HIM!"

The pixilated ninja dashed forward and delivered an uppercut that scattered the ice-covered monster. (Hendrix: 2700)

"Now, with the power of Armory Arm, my Gamebuster takes another few points off of you."

The machine lifted its gauntleted arm. In its palm, an orb of red-tinted orange energy, which it launched with a thrust of its arm, striking the rock n' roll duelist in the chest. (Hendrix: 1650)

"And with Gamebuster's effect, my score gains more points in regards to the defeated monster's level, in this case, 350 points for each level." (Erick: 3450)

"Holy Moly!" the MC exclaimed. "Erick just reversed the lead in a big way! Hendrix is in big trouble now."

"The only one in trouble is him!" Hendrix yelled as he forcefully drew.

_'This card wouldn't do much good,'_ he growled in his head, _'but this kid ain't giving me much choice.'_

"I play Advance Draw," he said sliding the card into his guitar. "With it, I sacrifice Colossal Fighter and draw two cards."

He took the two cards from his deck as his warrior dissolved into particles of light. Upon seeing the cards, a wicked smirk crossed his lips.

"I summon Jukebox Hero Man in the Box"

Appearing in the place the oversized warrior once stood was a man in a dark hooded cloak, holding a black, long neck bass guitar; his hood covering his face.

(ATK: 1500)

"Then, I give him some extra bling, the Ring of Magnetism."

A small, glowing, green ring appeared on the hooded man's finger and he staggered a little bit. (ATK: 1000)

"I'll end there."

"Really?" Erick asked. "OK, it's your funeral," he drew his card.

_'Maybe I should be careful here, I don't really know what his monster can do . . . Nah.'_

"Gamebuster, ready next simulation!"

Gamebuster's sensor started to glow again as a pixilated golfer appeared, ready to hit the ball.

"You plan on beating my monster with that?" Hendrix said not worried about what was coming.

"Hey, if it ain't broke. . . "Erick said, letting the comment hang as everyone knew the ling. "Now let's do this. FORE!"

As Erick yelled, the digital golfer went through the motions, and hit the ball, sending it flying right into the hooded monster's head, and knocking off his hood.

"WOAH!"

Erick was not the only one shocked and/or repulsed by what was seen. Girls screamed and a couple guys dropped their jaw upon seeing the eyes of Man in the Box were sewn shut.

"Man," Erick said still reeling at the sight, "that ain't right! Gamebuster, change modes and get rid of that thing, quick!"

The image of the golfer became blurry, and changed into boxer. The "hologram" rushed forward and delivered a 1-2 punch-upper-cut combination that shattered the Hero, and then disappeared.

"It doesn't matter to me how fast you destroy Man in the Box, because you're the one who gets hurt," Hendrix laughed.

"What?"

"Man in the Box's effect transfers the damage done to me through his battles to you."

Erick growled a little as a red aura surrounded him. (Erick: 500)

"Maybe so", Erick retorted, "but you still lose points with Armory Arm's help."

Once again the machine lifted its gauntleted claw, and fired an orb of energy at Hendrix, this time hitting his guitar. (Hendrix: 150)

"Plus, don't forget to add in my point bonus; this time, since it was a 4, I gain 150 times the level." (Erick: 1100)

"With that, and one facedown, I'm done."

"It looks like we're getting to the end of this match," the MC cried. "One move could end it for either one of them. If Hendrix can get rid of Erick's Gamebuster or attack directly with his Prince, he keeps his title; other wise one attack from Erick gives it to him."

"I'm not letting that happen!" Hendrix screamed in rage. "That title is mine, and I'm taking it with me when I graduate!"

"Dude, chill out," Erick said, trying to get this back into a friendly game.

"I'll chill out when you're out of my sight!" Hendrix grabbed the card on the top of his deck and whipped it out with enough force to rip the card in half.

"I play Crazy Train!" Three cards popped out of his Graveyard, and he slammed them into his deck. "This lets me add three Jukebox Heroes from my Graveyard to my deck, and then draw two new cards!" His deck auto-shuffled and then drew two cards with the same force as his last draw. Once he saw what he had he laughed hysterically.

"Did I miss a joke?" Erick asked the MC.

"If you did," he replied, "you aren't the only one."

"The joke's on you, geek," Hendrix said with a slightly sadistic smile. "I just drew what I needed to get around your oversized video game console. I play Power Slide."

As the card appeared on his field, Hendrix's robed monster started to glow.

"This card cuts the attack of one of my Jukebox Heroes in half and lets it hit you directly."

The glow faded as the dark prince slid the mic up his sleeve again. (ATK: 1250)

"Prince of Darkness, LET HIM HAVE IT!"

The robed monster started to mumble as he moved his arms in a strange manner. Dark energy started to collect in his hands.

"Pause!" Erick shouted, prompting the sorcerer freeze as he was.

"Hey!" Hendrix yelled to his monster, "What do you think you're doing? Attack him!"

"Hate to say it Hendrix," Erick commented, prompting Hendrix to look at Erick's field and see his now face-up Enemy controller card, "but I'm in control now."

"No!"

"Afraid so," Erick continued, "and with him paused like that, he counts as being in Defense Mode." (DEF: 2200)

Hendrix stared angrily and dumbfounded at the last card in his hand, another copy of Man in the Box.

_'If I had summoned this,'_ he screamed inside his head, _'I'd have had him beat!'_

"I. . . I got nothing," he finally stuttered. "I've lost."

"Sorry to say it," Erick as he drew, "but yes you have. Gamebuster, prepare final simulation."

The last "hologram" that Gamebuster produced was of a duel-sword wielding pirate.

"Final Battle! FIGHT!"

The holographic swashbuckler leaped into the air and slashed down on the digitally frozen monster with both swords, making it shatter. Then, the gauntlet started to glow, which made the scanner glow, which lead to the eyes of the pirate to glow, all with the same energy. The pirate then took a few steps back and held up his smaller sword, which had a gun embedded in the hilt. He fired a shot from the weapon that struck Hendrix on the shoulder as he fell to his knees in defeat. (Hendrix: 0)

"The winner and champ by means of a duel. Erick Lorenzo!" The MC called out as the crowd cheered wildly. Erick simply waved.

"Boss!"

Three people, two male and one female, pushed their way through the crowd and onto the stage, surrounding the stunned rocker and helping him to his feet.

"Let's get him out of here," said one of the males. The other two nodded in agreement, and started to lead him out.

"Not so fast," the MC said. "Before the duel started, Hendrix said, and I quote 'The winner of this duel not only gets the title and the money, but also the loser's rarest card and any necessary support cards."

"That deal went void when Geek Squad over there cheated," the other male said. "There is no way under normal circumstances that Hendrix would lose to some amateur deck like that."

"That's right!" the other two sternly stated. This brought out some boos from the audience.

"Never the less," the MC continued, "Hendrix offered the deal, Erick took it, and Erick won. So you need to honor your end of it."

"Yeah," came a random voice from the crowd. "Fork it over!" The whole group then broke out chanting "Fork it over! Fork it over!"

Over and over they chanted until the first male finally spoke up.

"Alright already!" He yelled as he grabbed what was left of Hendrix's deck and shuffled through it until he pulled two cards from it.

"Take 'em!" He said as he threw the cards to Erick, who caught them with ease, to the cheers of the audience.

"Mark my words, pipsqueak," the female coldly stated, staring Erick down. "We'll get those back and you will pay for this." With that, the foursome walked off.

_'Heh, where have I heard that before?'_ Erick thought.

"Congratulations, Erick," the MC said as he walked up to him, and handed him a small, rolled-up wad of bills held together by a rubber band. "Here's your prize of 1,511 dollars, and we invite you to come back, if you can, to defend your title next year. What do you say?"

"I say, 'you're on'!" The crowd erupted at Erick's comment. All the while, Erick examined the new cards as closely as he could.

_'I wonder how well these will work in my deck.'_

_**Some say that a mind is a terrible thing to waste, but I sure don't.**_

_**Sometimes I wish I didn't have this curse of intellect.**_

_**It's brought me nothing but trouble in the past, but hopefully putting it to use in what I do now, I might just find a way out of the pain it's caused.**_

Jukebox Hero Nirvana

Attribute: Light

Level: 3

Spellcaster/Effect

Flip: Draw 2 cards and then choose 1 card from your hand to place at the bottom of your deck.

500/1200

Jukebox Hero Tom Sawyer

Attribute: Fire

Level: 4

Warrior

A modern day warrior with a mean, mean stride. He rocks his audience with his guitar, but adds his spear when has to fight.

1900/1000

Jukebox Hero Bowie

Attribute: Wind

Level: 4

Warrior

A man with heterochormatic eyes. It's said that his music could leave enemies on a passing daydream before falling to the ground.

1700/1000

Jukebox Hero Kill Master

Attribute: Light

Level: 6

Spellcaster/Effect

During your End Phase, gain 600 Life Points.

2400/1700

Jukebox Hero JB

Attribute: Earth

Level: 4

Warrior/Effect

When this card is successfully summoned, you can Special Summon 1 "Jukebox Hero KG" from your graveyard.

1400/1200

Jukebox Hero KG

Attribute: Earth

Level: 4

Warrior/Effect

When this card is successfully summoned, you can Special Summon 1 "Jukebox Hero JB" from your graveyard.

1200/1400

Jukebox Hero Tenacious D

Attribute: Earth

Level: 8

Warrior/Fusion/Effect

"Jukebox Hero JB" + "Jukebox Hero KG"

Effect: When this card is destroyed, special summon 1 "Jukebox Hero JB" and 1 "Jukebox Hero KG" from your graveyard.

2600/2600

Clementine

Equip Spell

Equip only to a Jukebox Hero. It gains 600 ATK. Also the equipped monster is unaffected by your opponent's spell cards.

Picture: A flying-V guitar with lightning bolts surrounding it.

Jukebox Hero Prince of Darkness

Attribute: Dark

Level: 7

Spellcaster/Effect

Gains 200 ATK points for every monster this monster destroys in battle, but decrease this monster's DEF by 200 also.

2500/2200

Jukebox Hero Man in the Box

Attribute: Earth

Level: 4

Warrior/Effect

The opponent takes all Battle Damage to this card's controller that he/she would have taken from a battle involving this card.

1500/1600

Crazy Train

Normal Spell

Select three 'Jukebox Hero' monsters from your graveyard and return them to your deck. Shuffle the deck, and then draw 2 cards.

Picture: A fast moving train with a glimpse of Jukebox Hero Prince of Darkness laughing all the way in the background.

Power Slide

Normal Spell

Cut one "Jukebox Hero" monster's ATK points in half. That monster can attack directly.

Picture: Jukebox Hero JB doing a power slide, wave his guitar in front of him.

(All of the above cards were created by The Duelist of Dawn and used in his fic _YuGiOh! GX: Duel Academy Stories_)

Blasting Vein

Normal Spell

Destroy 1 face-down Spell or Trap Card you control. Draw 2 cards.

Image: a burning Duel Monster card

(First used by Axel in episode 109 of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX)

Spellbook Inside the Pot

Normal Spell

Both players draw 3 cards.

Image: a spell book flying out of a Pot of Greed

(First used by Jaden in chapter 32 of the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX manga)

Satellite Laser Balsam

Attribute: Light

Level: 8

Machine/Fusion/Effect

"Satellite Cannon" + "Satellite Cannon" + "Satellite Cannon"  
This monster cannot be Special Summoned except by Fusion Summon. This card cannot be destroyed by battle with a Level 10 or lower monster. During each of your End Phases, this card gains 3000 ATK. If this card attacks, its ATK is reduced to 0, after damage calculation. During battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent.

0/2000

Heavy Metal King

Attribute: Light  
Level: 7  
Type: Machine/Effect  
2050/1800

This card cannot be Normal Summoned or set. This card can only be Special Summoned from your deck by Tributing a "Musician King" that is Equipped with "Metalmorph". When this card attacks, increase the ATK of this card by half of the ATK of the attack target during damage calculation only.

(First used by Johnny Steps in episode 53 of the Original Yu-Gi-Oh! series. (Whether this was an actual anime-made card or just the representation of "Metalmorph" on "Musician King" is really not known.))

Item Shop

Cont. Spell

Once during either players' turn, the turn player can activate one of the following effects:

● Pay 1000 Life Points. Add one card from your deck to your hand. Your Deck is then shuffled.

● Return any number of cards from your hand to your Deck. Gain 500 Life Points for each card returned. Your Deck is then shuffled.

Image: an Arabian man wearing a turban standing behind the counter of an old fashioned marketplace shop trying to sell Pot of Generosity to a knight

Gamebuster TX-2000J

Attribute: Light

Level: 8

Machine/Synchro/Effect

1 Machine-Type Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters

When this card destroys a monster as a result of battle, the controller of this card applies one of the following effects based on the Level of the destroyed Monster:

● 1-4: Gain 150 Life Points x the Level of the destroyed Monster

● 5 or 6: Gain 250 Life Points x the Level of the destroyed Monster

● 7 or 8: Gain 350 Life Points x the Level of the destroyed Monster

● 9 or higher: Gain 400 Life Points x half the Level of the destroyed monster

2950/2300

(The above two cards were created by me)

Older Male's Voice: That was a tough duel to watch at times, but just what was it that Erick gained from it? That will be revealed later. (draws card) Oh, looks like now you get to hear from one of the darker members of this bunch. Get ready to meet Toledo's…

**Ch. 4 Shadowpriestess of Ohm**

_A/N: I apologize again for the tardiness of this chapter. It was bigger than I first thought it would be. From now on, how bout we just play it by ear as to when the next one will be up._


	5. Ch 4 Shadowpriestess of Ohm

_Author Note: one quick thing, any views expressed by the character's are not mine, but are merely words and phrases used to try and enhance the story and its characters. In the case of this story, words used by the Shadowchaser's opponent are meant to be taunts and trash talk to try and aggravate the Shadowchaser._

**Chapter 4: Shadowpriestess of Ohm**

_**You really want to know who I am? I'm someone who was cursed from the day I was born.**_

_**I'm someone who's past always catches up with them, and never in a good way.**_

_**I'm someone who tends to leave a wake of destruction behind them no matter how hard they try not to.**_

_**Darkness and evil seems to ooze out of my every pore, because my name is Delilah Oakridge, and I am a demon.**_

_**-GCS4-**_

Around the same time Erick was finishing up his duel with Hendrix, something else was occurring within the city. Wearing a black cloak, a figure ran down a deserted sideway, pausing only once to catch their breath before taking off again at the sound of a revving Duel Runner engine. Hoping to escape whoever was following, the figure ducked into an alley. Seeing the alley went to the next street, the figure thought of this as a get away, but as the way drew closer, it was blocked by a tie-dyed green and gold Duel Runner. Turning to try and run out the other way, the cloaked figure saw that it was blocked by a lavender Spyder-styled Runner with a black-and-red colored flame decal. The figure riding that Runner took off their helmet, attached their Duel Disk to their gauntlet, dismounted their Runner and walked into what little light there was in the alley. The light revealed the figure to be a pale-skinned female, about 29 years old; wearing black leather, knee-high, high heel boots; baggy, black shorts; and a tight, black T-shirt with a skull on it. The most noticeable feature she had though was her chin-length, lavender hair, and piercing eyes of the same color.

"Heh," the cloaked figure chuckled, "I should have known you'd be leading the search, Delilah."

"Next time you want to play hide-'n'-seek, Shaw," Delilah said, pointing a finger to where the figure, Shaw, would have his feet, "don't wear any thing that indicates where you are." Shaw pulled his cloak back just enough to reveal he was wearing a tracking bracelet.

"Can I help it if I'm a sucker for punishment?" Shaw said as he took the hood off his head, revealing pale, white hair done in a buzz cut, and slightly pointed ears. The most startling part to those other than the two people boxing him in would be that his skin was a deep crimson color.

"You're under arrest for breaking the terms of your house arrest," said the rider of the tie-dyed Runner, as she took off her helmet and shook her strawberry-blonde locks loose, "along with armed robbery, and assault and battery." As she said that, she stepped into the light to reveal she was wearing an aquamarine top, white, calf-length capris, and tennis shoes.

"Dude had it coming," Shaw said with a shrug. "He's gotta learn sometime that there are consequences for being a Good Samaritan against the wrong guy.

"Well," Delilah said, folding her arms, "you still gotta deal with the consequences of your actions."

Shaw looked at Delilah, then at her partner, then back at Delilah.

"So," he sighed, "which one of you has the honor?"

"That," said the other Shadowchaser, "would be . . ."

"Me!" Delilah said, cutting her partner off as she activated her duel disk.

"Ooh, this'll be fun," Shaw said as he threw off his cloak to reveal his ripped body and that he was only wearing a faded and tattered pair of blue jeans and a duel disk.

"You sure about this Delilah?" the other Shadowchaser asked.

"Don't worry about me, Maria," Delilah said. "I can handle anything he has in his deck."

_'It's not his deck I'm worried about,'_ Maria said mentally.

"What is it about me that attracts you, Delilah?" Shaw asked as he turned on his Duel Disk. "Is it the fact that we both have demon blood in our veins? Sure, I'm part oni and you're part…well, I not sure, but I don't see any way that that can stand between us."

"Just make your move," Delilah said coldly and sternly.

**(Delilah: 8000) (Shaw: 8000)**

Both players drew their opening hands. Shaw then took one extra card.

"Here we go," he said. "I'll start by playing Dark World Dealings."

As the spell appeared on his field, Shaw instantly drew 1 card and slid another card into his Graveyard.

_'And it starts,'_ Delilah thought as she did the same.

A dark mist started to pour out of Shaw's graveyard and onto the field. From it rose a rather thin, and grotesque fiend wearing beige colored, skeletal armor and carrying a wicked looking pike. (ATK: 1600)

"You always want to go for the dramatic, don't you?" Delilah asked.

"One of the advantages of using the Dark World fiends," Shaw explained. "Not only can they thrive on the powers that destroy the opponent's hand, but when those powers are used against them, they know how to turn it around for their benefit. Beiige here is just a small taste of what's to come, Delilah."

"I've gone against you Dark World deck before Shaw, it's nothing I haven't seen before," Delilah told him.

"Maybe not now," Shaw told her as he set two cards facedown, one of them being a defensive monster, "but just wait. I've got a few new tricks to show off."

"Whatever," Delilah scoffed. "I assume you're done."

"Go ahead."

Delilah took the top card off her deck, looked at it, and placed it in one of her Spell and Trap card zones.

"I activate Instant Fusion, paying one-thousand Life Points to bring Barox to the field."

The spell card appeared on her field, but it them dissolved into a black mist that then reformed into a hideous blue-skinned fiend with sickly-yellow fur on its legs, lower arms, and shoulders. (ATK: 1380) **(Delilah: 7000)**

"And before you say anything, Barox isn't sticking around." She took the Fusion monster's card off of her disk and replaced it with another card. "I'm sacrificing it to bring out the King of Yamimakai."

The dark mist reappeared around the furry fiend for a few moments before dispersing to reveal a brown-skinned fiend with a turquoise headpiece. (ATK: 2000)

"Attack his Vanguard!"

Dark energy gathered into the king's claws until each claw was covered with an orb of darkness crackling with energy. Thrusting his claws forward, the fiend launched the orbs at the pike-wielding Dark Worlder, obliterating him on contact. **(Shaw: 7600)**

"I'll set this," she said as a facedown appeared in one of her Spell and Trap zones, "and end my turn."

"Let me ask you a serious question, Delilah," Shaw said, smirking as he brushed off the attack like it didn't happen.

"First time for everything I guess," Delilah replied.

"Heh, the Ice Queen told a joke," Shaw chuckled. "In any case, why do you use those old-school antiques of fiends? They haven't appeared in duels since the days of Panik the Player Killer back in Duelist Kingdom. They belong in museums, not Duel Disks. They're worthless!"

The last comment made Delilah's King of Darkness growl angrily and flex his claws in the same fashion.

"Let's just say I can relate with them," Delilah told him. "In this day and age, them and I, we're misunderstood."

"Whatever," shrugged Shaw. "If you want a chance of beating me, though, you're gonna have to think of updating your methods."

"How about you just duel your way and I duel mine?" Delilah suggested.

"OK," Shaw said as he drew and immediately played it, "if that's how you want it. I play Forgotten Treasure of Dark World." A Spell Card appeared on his side of the field with the image of a shadow over an open coffin. Inside it was the skeletal remains of a well-known Dark World monster called Brron, and he was holding a rolled-up, yellowed sheet of paper. "This card activates only when I would have 3 or less cards in my hand after its activation and if I also have a Dark Worlder in my Graveyard. Now, I remove that Dark Worlder from play, and then I draw cards equal to that monster's Level." He removed Beiige's card from his Graveyard and added four cards to his hand.

"That doesn't seem like the right kind of card for a Dark World deck," Delilah scoffed.

"I'm not finished yet," Shaw told her. "See, after I draw, I then have to discard cards from my hand equal to half of the monster's Level…rounded up, of course."

"Of course," Delilah replied, disinterested by that fact.

Shaw looked over the cards in his hand examining his options, before grabbing two cards, one he just drew, and one in his hand prior to activating the spell. "I think I'll discard these two." He slid the cards into his Graveyard and once again the black fog poured out. "Now it's time to use my monsters effects. First, by discarding Broww, Huntsman of Dark World, I can draw one more card. Then, through Sillva's power, when he is discarded, I can bring him to the field."

As he took a card off the top of his deck, a tall, imposing, black and silver skinned fiend rose from the fog, carrying a wicked sward in each hand. (ATK: 2300)

"Sillva, attack her pathetic King!" Shaw commanded.

With that, the Warlord leapt into action, charging forward ready to dice the King of Yamimakai to bits.

"I activate my Trap Card." Delilah called out as she pressed a button on her Duel Disk, causing her facedown to reveal itself, and a bright purple energy barrier appeared, intercepting the silver fiends slashes.

"With Spirit Shield, by removing a Zombie or Fiend in my Graveyard from play," Delilah said as she took Barox's card out of her Graveyard, and held it up for Shaw to see, "I get to end your Battle Phase. The downside is that if I run out of those two types in my Graveyard, Spirit Shield destroys itself."

And with that, as the classic fiend duelist slid the fusion monster into the pocket of her shorts, the Trap shattered and the barrier disappeared.

"Not bad," Shaw told her as he set two cards in his Spell and Trap Zones and signaled his turn's end, "but it was a waste of a good continuous Trap for a one shot use."

"You'll see the purpose behind it in just a bit," Delilah explained as she drew. "I play Different Dimension Reincarnation, discarding one card to Special Summon Barox and equip it with this card."

The spell appeared and started to ripple as if made of liquid, allowing the blue-skinned, yellow-furred fiend to leap out of the card and land on her side of the field next to the King. (ATK: 1380)

"But once again, I'm using Barox as a stepping stone. This time I'm bringing out Great Maju Garzett."

Barox was then covered in a purple light, which caused his form to mutate, until the light faded to reveal an even more wicked fiend in its place. (ATK: ?)

"I'm not impressed," Shaw said with a fake yawn. "These are just the same old moves you always use. Even though your Great Maju Garzett now has close to three thousand Attack Points, it won't help you much if you don't change your style."

"Hey," Delilah told him as her new fiend gained its new power (ATK:? - 2760), "if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Now let's clear your field. King of Yamimakai, attack his facedown monsters."

Once again the dark King gathered the dark energy in its claws and threw the orbs it created at the unknown monster. However, instead of it being destroyed, it flipped over, revealing a rotund, blue-skinned fiend with large, orange-palmed hands. (DEF: 2100)

The fiend caught the orbs with one hand, and threw them as one orb at the violet-haired duelist. The orb crashed down at Delilah's feet, causing her to take a couple steps back. **(Delilah: 6900)**

"Should have known," Delilah stated, slightly annoyed.

"I knew you'd attack Renge first," Shaw laughed. "I know how you just hate surprises. Still, I have to wonder, you had to have suspected that it would have been the Dark World's Gatekeeper, so why waste the Life Points by attacking with your King?"

The classic Fiend duelist rolled her eyes. "Come on, Shaw, do you think I'm that stupid? If I had attacked with Garzett and your facedown was less than two-thousand defensively, I would have left my King wide open to an attack from your other monster. And speaking of _'Garzett'_ and _'attacks'_, I'll have it attack your Warlord."

The power-absorbing fiend started to charge down the field.

"As if I'd make it that easy!" The half-oni howled in laughter while pressing a button on his disk. "I activate Attack Guidence Barrier!"

Great Maju Garzett stopped midway down the field as one of his facedowns lifted.

"Thanks to this, your monster is forced to attack my Renge, who now has an additional six-hundred points added to its Defense!" Shaw cackled as the large-handed fiend started to glow. (DEF: 2700)

"I don't know what you see is so funny," Delilah scowled. "Your monster is still weaker than mine, slight though it may be."

"Which is why I have this card set, the classic Castle Wall."

Delilah grinded her teeth while Shaw cackled as madly as Batman's Joker as Renge's glow intensified. (DEF: 3200)

As soon as Delilah's fiend was close enough and ready to rake its claws across the Dark Worlder's body, Renge slammed his open hands into its opponent, pushing the enemy back and creating a shockwave that rippled across the field, barreling towards Delilah. Delilah raised her arms in defense as the shockwaves flew past her, and Garzett returned to his original position. **(Delilah: 6460)**

"Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh. What's the matter, Delilah? You going soft on me?" Shaw chuckled between breaths as he clamed down. "Just like I've been saying, you're as predictable as original flavored bubblegum and plain vanilla ice cream. No excitement. Nothing new."

Delilah lowered her arms and growled at that comment. Looking at her, both Shaw and Maria could see a faint violet glow in her eyes, not very bright, but bright enough for them to see it.

_'Uh-oh,'_ Maria thought, _'she's starting to lose it. I was afraid this would happen.'_

While Maria was starting to worry about Delilah, Shaw was giggling to himself. _'Perfect, this is going just as I planned it. I just need to push a few more of her buttons, and then her demonic power will slip out of control, causing the damage of our game to become real, and then I'll have her on a brutality charge, allowing me to slide on by.'_

"You're just asking for it, you know that, Shaw?" Delilah said, fuming.

"Well, why don't you do something about it with that one little card?" Shaw taunted.

Delilah was about ready to run across the field and hit him just to shut him up.

"Don't let him get to you, Delilah!" Maria exclaimed. "He's just trying to make you lose control! Just take a breath! You beat him before, you can do it again!"

The gothic Shadowchaser knew she was right, so she closed her eyes, and took a couple of deep breaths, calming down. When she opened her eyes, the glow was gone.

Shaw's smile faded, _'Damn it,'_ he mental cursed, _'That broad back there is gonna spoil everything. I'll have to take care of her before I do anything else.'_

"I'm ending my turn, Shaw." Delilah said calmly.

Shaw was silent as he drew, as he examined all of his options.

_'Maybe I might be able to get her P. after all.'_ He thought. _'I might get her blood boiling if I take out her best monster.'_

"I'm gonna give you a little gift, D.," the half-oni told her.

_'Oh, brother,'_ she mentally moaned, _'here we go again.'_

"I equip your Great Maju Garzett with Dark World Prison Chains." He announced as he played the card he drew.

Chains as black as obsidian burst out of the asphalt under Delilah's newer fiend and wrapped themselves around its wrists and ankles, pulling themselves tightly to severely limit its movements.

"With this, your monster's power is severely reduced." Shaw taunted. "He really can't do much when he's shackled like that, can he?"

Garzett roared angrily as it struggled against the binds that held him.

(ATK: 2760-1380)

"Now I discard a card through my Equip Spells Effect," Shaw continued as he slid a card in his Graveyard. Once again a dark fog poured onto the field from his Graveyard, only this time it covered BOTH sides of the field. "And in case you're wondering, I discard Kahkki. That means that your King falls!"

With that, the fog around the King of Yamimakai swirled and thickened; rising up to it's hips. Groaning in confusion, the brown fiend was pulled under the fog before it could do anything to fight it. When the fog lifted, the King was gone.

"Now Sillva, take out her so called 'powerhouse'!"

The silver fiend charged forward, swords at the ready, and made three slashes, slicing off Garzett's arms and separating the upper and lower bodies at the waist before the goth's fiend shattered. **(Delilah: 5540)**

"Aww, sorry Delilah," Shaw chuckled as the Dark World Warlord returned to his field. "Looks like the best of your old schoolers just bit the dust. And since I doubt that you can draw the monster to take him out, I'll summon my Mad King of Dark World now. Come on out, Brron!"

With the sound of hysterical cackling, one of the most imfamous of the Dark World fiends appeared, a grey-skinned fiend wearing a flowing, fur-trimmed cape with the jaw of his skull-like face hanging open and his arms bound together in chains.

(ATK: 1800)

"Your turn, D." the half-oni said in a sing-song voice. "You better make it count."

Before Delilah drew her card, she took a close look at Shaw's field.

_'Ok,'_ she thought, _'he's got a heavy hitter, a strong defender, an unknown facedown, and the leading staple of a Dark World deck. He's gotta be trying to lure me into attacking. Then again, that's not like him. Now trying to scare me away from attacking, that's more his style, and that fits because he's had that card set since his first turn. It's gotta be something pretty powerful, if he's confident enough to set it to keep from discarding it.'_

She drew her card and when she saw what it was, she smirked.

_'But I'm the not kind to tip toe through a minefield. I'd rather throw a stone into it, to take out a few mines.'_

"I got a few things to say, Shaw," she finally said. "One, you accuse me of using the same old move? You're the one who said you got some new stuff, but you even used the same line to introduce your Dark World Prison Chains. If you've got some new moves, I haven't seen them."

"Patience is a virtue, Delilah," Shaw retorted. "They're coming."

"Somehow I don't believe you, but whatever," the gothic Shadowchaser continued. "Second, if you think I only have the older fiends in my deck, you are sorely mistaken. Since you have at least two monsters while I have none, I can Summon Power Invader without a tribute."

As she played the card, a new fiend appeared on her field. This one looked like a fiendish wrestler with a super-buff body, and purple and deep navy blue skin, its yellow eyes staring down its opposition. (ATK: 2200)

"Now Power Invader, drive the point home and take out the Mad King." Delilah said.

Brron struggled against the chains that were wrapped around his arms, but failed to break them before the fiendish wrestler slammed its fist into the Mad King's jaw. Brron climbed a good 30 or 40 feet into the air before he finally shattered. **(Shaw: 7200)**

Shaw merely chuckled.

"Something funny, Shaw?" asked the gothic shadow chaser.

"Just that you're doing all the work," the half-oni explained, "and yet I'm the one ahead."

"Not for long, though," Delilah told him as she set her last card on the field. "It's your move."

Shaw took a close look at the two cards in his hand.

_'All I need to do is find a way to bring this guy out, and Delilah's in for the surprise of her life,'_ he told himself mentally. He then drew his card, and once he saw it, he couldn't help but give a small smile.

_'Heh, ask and you shall receive.'_

He placed his drawn card in facedown defense position in his Monster Zone along with one of his other cards in a Spell and Trap Zone.

"That's all for now," he said calmly.

"I know what your plan is Shaw," Delilah said as she drew, "and I'll be more than happy to oblige you, as I could use the help as well. First I summon La Jinn, the Mystic Genie of the Lamp."

Green smoke appeared on her side of the field, and from it rose the upper body, waist-up, of a muscular, green-skinned male with a long, thin moustache and a small cap on his head. From the waist down, he was just smoke. (ATK: 1800)

"La Jinn, roast his facedown Morphing Jar."

The genie took a deep breath as he floated towards the facedown card. As he exhaled, a stream of flames poured out of his mouth, setting the card alight and making the clay pot that is Morphing Jar appear and shatter.

"And you called me predictable," Delilah lightly laughed as she drew her five cards.

"To quote you," Shaw said doing the same while also discarding the last card in his hand, "'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.'"

The dark fog poured out of Shaw's Graveyard again.

"What did you discard this time?" Delilah asked, bored with the common effect most of the Dark World Cards shared.

"Just one of my surprises. Meet one of my new monsters, Vilot, Musician of Dark World!"

Raising out of the fog was an entirely new fiend. This one was tall and thin wearing a violet suit, opera cape, and Phantom-of-the-Opera-ish Mask. In his hand was a demonic looking violin. (ATK: 1250)

"I'd be impressed if it weren't for two things. One, its low Attack Points and two, you put it in Attack Mode, meaning I can take you Life Points down another peg. Power Invader, send that Musician back to the Graveyard."

The wrestling fiend charged down the field toward Vilot, but ran right into a barrier.

Scanning his field, Delilah saw that Shaw had activated Negate Attack when she had called for Power Invader's attack, ending her Battle Phase.

"Fine," she growled, grinding her teeth, "So your new monster stays, but I still don't see what good it'll do you. I'll set this and end my turn."

A facedown appeared on Delilah's field as Shaw drew.

"I'll show you just what Vilot can do in just a sec. First, I need to set up the field." Shaw told her as he slid a card into his Graveyard. "I discard Silent Strider to lower Renge's Level by 1."

The large-handed fiend started to emit a red aura as it lost a level. (Renge Level:3)

"Then I equip Sillva with Demotion, making him lose two Levels."

He placed the card in a Spell and Trap Zone on his disk and it gained a similar red aura. (Sillva Level: 3)

_'Why would he be doing that?'_ thought Delilah. _'The only reason to readjust a monster's level would me to perform a Synchro Summon, and he doesn't have a Tuner on his field. Unless…'_

"I know what you're thinking," Shaw said, snapping her back into reality. "You're thinking that I either have a card that can make a monster a Tuner, or my new monster is a Tuner monster. Well, the answer is . . . the second option."

Delilah's eyes widened in shock.

"But there aren't any Dark World Tuners and Synchros!" she exclaimed.

"There are now!" Shaw continued as his monsters leapt into the air. "Watch as Level three Vilot tunes with Level three Sillva and Level three Renge!"

The Tuner took the bow he was holding and slid it across the strings of its violin, playing an eerie note. This caused it to glow and transform into three typical Snychro Rings that surrounded the Warlord and Gatekeeper, reducing them to their frame work and then transforming that into three stars for each of the two monsters.

"With these three monsters, I Synchro Summon the Ultimate fighter of the Dark World Army," Shaw told her as the Level Stars aligned themselves and the pillar of light appeared. "Meet Taion, Defender of the Dark World!"

The pillar faded to reveal a fiend similar to Renge, but taller and wider. It wore tan colored body armor and a tan headband. Strapped to it's body were weapons of different styles, probably from its various conquests, and a bazooka with a muzzle shaped like a strange demonic skull. (ATK: 2800)

"And," Shaw continued, "Since I just Synchro Summoned Taion, I discard one card, as per his effect."

Once again, for like the umpteenth time, (Delilah had lost count of how many discards this made), the half-oni slid a card into his Graveyard, and the fog poured out of his Graveyard and onto his field.

"And FYI, I discard Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World. So now I Special Summon him to the field."

This time out of the fog rose a large fiend with skin the color of tarnished gold, if that were possible. In both hands it wielded a large battleax of the same color.

(ATK: 2300)

"And now let's let the mayhem begin," Shaw said with a sinister grin. "Taion, obliterate her Power Invader!"

The armored Dark Worlder reached behind his back and grabbed the demonic bazooka. Pulling the weapon in him, Taion took aim and fired a small orb of dark energy from it. The orb zipped across the field, and upon contact with the fiendish wrestler's chest, ate a hole in the section of its chest where its heart was. With a groan, it then shattered. **(Delilah: 4940)**

"Now it's Goldd's turn to have some fun, as he takes out your wimpy genie!"

On that command the golden fiend charged, and slashed La Jinn with its ax causing him to shatter as well. **(Delilah: 4440)**

"Look at you Delilah," the half-oni laughed. "After everything you've done this duel, you're back at square one with a bare field. The only differences being a few facedown bluffs and a hellova lot less Life Points then you started with. I got this in the bag. Especially since Taion shifts into Defense mode after the turn he attacks ends."

Taion Synchro monster holstered its weapon, and assumed the position that Renge once held, with its hands up to block oncoming attacks. (DEF: 3100)

Delilah growled, clearly annoyed at the Dark World Duelist's constant taunting and bragging. Her eyes started to gain that faint glow again, only this time Maria didn't catch it, her mind was focusing on a different aspect of the duel.

'_What is he hiding?'_ Maria wondered. _'Shaw still has one facedown card from his first turn and has yet to activate it. Of course, knowing Shaw, he probably set it to prevent him from discarding it on accident, but still, if it's still set, he must be planning something big.'_

Delilah drew her card without saying a word and then pressed a couple of buttons on her black duel disk.

"I activate my trap cards, Call of the Haunted and Powerful Rebirth," she said.

The two cards lifted to reveal their images. The first one showed smoke raising out of a graveyard, and the other showed a brown-skinned being in a dark robe bursting out of a grave.

"With Powerful Rebirth, I resurrect La Jinn with an additional 100 Attack Points and 1 more Level than normal," the gothic Shadowchaser continued, as the genie reappeared with more muscle showing than before. (ATK: 1900) (LV: 5)

"And with Call of the Haunted," she went on, "I summon the monster I discarded for D.D.R. Meet my Doom Shaman."

Appearing on her field next was a fiendish looking monster with grey-green skin, sharp claws, and curved horns. It was holding a staff in its left claw. (ATK: 2400)

"Next, I remove Barox, Power Invader, and the King of Yamimakai from Play," she explained as the cards slid out of her Graveyard, "to special summon Dark Necrofear."

A dark shadow started to form in the space in front of Delilah, the spirits of the removed monsters appeared behind her. The spirits were sucked into the Shadow and were absorbed by it, causing it to take the form of a bald, blue skinned, female fiend clad in leather and carrying a broken doll. (ATK: 2200)

"Now I use my Normal Summon to allow Doom Shaman to gain its Gemini Power," as she told the half-oni this, the fiendish Shaman gained a very dark aura, so dark you could barely see it at this time of night, "and with it I'll bring back a monster from your Graveyard!"

The monster spun its staff around a few times before pointing the tip of it at the spot to its left. A dark portal opened and from it appeared the Dark World Musician. (ATK: 1250)

At the sight of his own monster on her field, Shaw beamed like a Chesire cat.

"Now I'll equip La Jinn with Black Pendant, giving him another 500 Attack Points." A necklace with a black gem appeared around the genie's neck. (ATK: 2400)

"And once the Pendant goes to the Graveyard, as you no doubt know, you'll take 500 points of damage. And I'm gonna make that happen as I tune your Vilot with my

La Jinn!"

Vilot started to play his violin, and the genie was ready for the Synchro Ring, but after what seemed like a good few minutes (in reality it was more like 15 seconds) nothing happened. Delilah and her monsters looked down the field to see Vilot sitting on the ground, calmly playing his violin as if nothing was really going on. Doom Shaman poked the fiendish musician with its staff, but it was ignored.

"Come on!" Delilah yelled at Vilot. "Start the Synchro Summon!"

She, too, was ignored by the violin player, and that finally brought Shaw back into his maniacal laughter. He was rolling on the ground, laughing his head off.

"Stop!" he gasped out between laughs. "You're gonna…make me died…from lack…of oxygen!"

"What are you laughing at, Shaw?" the Shadowchaser snarled, the glow in her eyes starting to get brighter. Shaw didn't answer, he just laughed harder. "SHUT UP AND ANSWER ME!" she screamed.

"Card . . . Text . . . Read . . ." the half-oni gasped, still laughing.

Delilah took the Dark World monster card off her disk and read the card's effect. She didn't read far, though, as the first thing it stated was "This card cannot be used for a Synchro Summon unless the other Synchro Material Monsters and the Special Summoned Synchro Monster have 'Dark World' in their names." Delilah screamed in frustration.

"You screwed up big time, Delilah," Shaw said as he calmed down. "You should've read the card's text before you wasted your turn bringing Vilot to your side."

Delilah, in an attempt to stay in control, said nothing. She just set two facedowns and signaled the end of her turn.

"The silent treatment won't help you, D." the Dark World duelist taunted as he drew. "It's only a matter of time now."

Shaw grabbed another card in his hand.

"I play another Dark World Dealings. So now, once again, we draw and ditch one each."

Both duelists did just that, but while Delilah discarded a different card in her hand, Shaw discarded the card he drew, and afterwards the dark fog came again.

"Now, I Special Summon Grrai, Inventor of Dark World."

Raising out of the fog this time was a small, grey skinned fiend. Compared to Goldd, this new fiend only came up to about the Wu-lord's knee. It was wearing a futuristic breast plate, and carrying a large wrench. It also had a glass dome on the top of its head protecting its revealed brain. (ATK: 300)

"And since I Special Summoned him with his effect, Grrai becomes a tuner."

The small fiend took his wrench, and with it, twisted a knob on his armor, causing it to glow.

"Next, I'll Summon Zure, Knight of Dark World"

Appearing on the other side of the small Dark Worlder was a light blue-skinned fiend wearing a blue cape and wielding a sword. (ATK: 1800)

"Now I'm tuning together my Level 1 Grrai with Level 4 Zure and Level 5 Goldd."

Grrai's chest plate glowed and transformed him into a single star. The star then started to circle the other two monsters until it transformed into a Synchro Ring. The knight and the wu-lord then faded to their framework as their Level Stars aligned themselves just as the pillar of light appeared.

"Any crime against the Dark World Monarchy has a death penality," Shaw chanted as this happened. "Let he who carries the penalties out appear now to punish my foe. Synchro Summon! Off with her head! Blak, Executioner of Dark World!"

The pillar faded away to reveal an 8 ½ feet tall black fiend, with a head like Zure and a body like Goldd. It held an ax that was as long as the fiend was tall with a blade that looked like sharpened obsidian. (ATK: 3300)

Maria was really started to worry at this point.

_'Oh, man,'_ she thought, _'Shaw wasn't kidding about having some new tricks. If Delilah doesn't do something quick, this could be over fast.'_

"And now, like Taion," Shaw explained, "when Blak is Synchro Summoned, I discard a number of cards from my hand, but this time it's two cards."

The dark fog appeared again as he discarded his cards.

"How I'll use their effects, first Broww," the half-oni said as he drew. "Then, Kahkki, and while it would be fun to watch you struggle with that unusable Tuner, your Doom Shaman's gonna be a real problem. So, I'll use Kahkki's ability to destroy your Doom Shaman."

The fog crawled its way to Delilah's field and concentrated itself under the fiendish spellcaster, who was then pulled under it by an unknown force. After about a moment or two, the Dark World musician shattered, showing that Doom Shaman was destroyed.

"Now I know what you're thinking," Shaw continued, as Taion stood back up and pulled out a large battle ax. "You're planning on attacking one of my monsters with your Dark Necrofear, and then take control with its effect. Well, I'd hate to burst your bubble, but as long as there is another Dark World monster on my field, Taion will not turn traitor. So, I'll have him attack without fear!"

The large fiend charged with its ax held high. Once it was close enough, it swung it's ax down and hit a green barrier that had appeared between Taion and Dark Necrofear right at the last second.

"What was . . ." Shaw started.

"That was my Draining Shield, Shaw," Delilah said before he could finish. "You don't think I'd run the kind of deck I run without some cards to help pad my Life Points, do you?"

The barrier then dissolved into particles of golden light that flew into her back duel disk, causing to glow with a golden aura for a couple of seconds. **(Delilah: 7240) **

"Fine," Shaw growled loudly. "If that's how you want it, then I'll just have Blak do what he does best."

The large fiend junped high into the air with its ax held even higher over its head.

"Execute Dark Necrofear with Giant Guillotine Slash!"

Blak then began it's descent with a wicked gleam in its eye and a sinister smile on its face.

"You aren't the only one who can trap someone, Shaw," Delilah shouted as she pressed a button. "I activate Attack Guidance Armor."

As her facedown lifted, a demonic-looking breast plate appeared on the genie.

_'Sorry about this, La Jinn,'_ she mentally apologized.

"With Attack Guidance Armor," she then explained, "La Jinn will take the hit for Dark Necrofear."

With that, the genie flew over to where the blue-skinned fiend was, pushing her out of the way as the ax came down, cutting the genie in half. The necklace that was around the genie's neck fell to the ground as La Jinn pixilated. Once it hit the ground, the gem shattered and unleashed bolts of black lightning that struck Shaw's Duel Disk. **(Shaw: 6700)**

"I read your card's stats, Shaw," Delilah told the half-oni as he watched her and the field unamused. "I knew that if I had let you attack Dark Necrofear with your chop-happy friend, I wouldn't have been able to use her effect. So it may have cost me more, but it'll be worth it."

"It'll cost you more than you think," Shaw said in a tone that matched the way he looked. "Blak inflicts double the damage he normally would."

Delilah looked at her Life Point Counter and saw that she did indeed take a steeper drop in points that she anticipated. **(Delilah: 5440)**

But Shaw also noticed something. Blak's ax had left a crack in the pavement where the blade landed during the attack. Seeing this caused a smirk to cross his face.

_'Yes, it's working,'_ he thought, _'I just need to push her a little more and I'll have her cold on misuse of abilities, and brutality.'_

"I'll end my turn there," Shaw said. "Good luck trying to overcome this margin, especially with only two cards, the once in your hand, and the one you're gonna draw."

Delilah said nothing as she drew, but when she saw what she drew, she smirked. "Is that what you think, Shaw?" she asked.

"That's what I know," the half-oni told her. "We've dueled so many times I know your deck inside and out, and you never change."

"Well, here's a surprise for you," she said as she slid the card into a slot on her Disk. "I play Signal Check."

The card appeared showing the image of Neo-Spacian Glow Moss holding its hands up, with four orbs colored red, blue, green, and brown each floating between its hands.

"Heh, so you finally have something new," Shaw remarked, "What's it do?"

"First, you have to take cards off the top of your deck until you grab a monster. Don't show me, though."

Shaw started taking cards, once he looked at the third card he smiled.

"Got one," he then stated.

"Good," Delilah continued. "Now I have to guess the Attribute of that monster, and if I guess right, I get to draw three cards. Knowing you the way I do, that monster is a Dark Attribute."

Shaw snickered as he turned the card around, showing it to be Reign-Beaux, Overlord of Dark World.

"Thought so," Delilah remarked as she drew three cards.

"So what now?" Shaw asked. "Do I discard the cards now?" He hovered the cards over his Graveyard slot.

"No, now you put them back in your deck and shuffle," said the Shadowchaser to the half-oni, causing him to cringe.

"I know what you're thinking, Shaw," Delilah continued. "Reign-Beaux is a card that only has its effect activated when it's discarded by an opponent's effect, but since it's going back to your deck, the chance of you getting it back is low."

Shaw said nothing as he put the cards back in his deck and let the auto-shuffler do the rest.

"I should thank you, Shaw," Delilah added. "With your help, I now have something that'll help clear your field. I Summon Goblin King in Attack Mode."

As she played the card, a bald child-like green-skinned fiend wearing a red royalty robe and a purple crown appeared next to Necrofear. Standing straight up, it only came up to Necrofear's knee. (ATK: 0)

"Isn't he cute?" Shaw said sarcastically.

"You won't think so shortly," the Shadowchaser told him. "Being a fellow fiend duelist, I'm sure you know Goblin King's effect. For every other fiend on the field, this little guy gains 1000 Attack, and with two fiends on your field and one other one on mine, that's 3000 points."

The small fiend king instantly grew to almost six feet with every muscle in its body bulging to the limits. (ATK: 0 – 3000)

"Now it's time to start the offensive. Goblin King, give Taion the royal treatment!"

Goblin King rushed down the field and smashed its fist into the overweight Dark Worlder, shattering it before it could even lift its weapon. With a fiend gone, the king then shrunk a little. **(Shaw: 6500) **(GK ATK: 3000-2000)

"Now Dark Necrofear is going to attack you Blak!"

The blue-skinned female smirked as she ran down the field towards the huge, black, ax-weilding fiend. The half-oni didn't make a move or say a thing as Blak slashed its opponent in half. Delilah watched as a spirit left the female fiend's body as it shattered to pixels, and entered Blak's body. At the same time the king shrunk even more. **(Delilah: 4340)** (GK ATK: 2000-1000)

"Now in order to save Goblin King for your attacks," Delilah went on as her facedown lifted, "I activate Dark Spirit Art-Greed, offering him as a sacrifice to draw two cards. You're welcome to stop me by showing me a Spell Card."

Shaw ground his teeth together. "I don't have one," he snarled, "so just draw already.

With that, the fiendish monarch dissolved into a dark mist as Delilah drew her cards. She then took a quick look at her cards.

'_Knowing Shaw,'_ she thought, _'this card might come in handy.'_

"I'll set this and call it quits for now," she finished as the card appeared and Blak flew over to Delilah's field by some mysterious force. At the same time, the light in Delilah's eyes started to dim.

Shaw took note of that, and that frustrated him even more.

'_Why isn't this working?'_ he growled in his head. _'Whenever I think I'm close to getting her in a fit of rage, she starts to cool down.'_ He drew his card. _'What's more, my Dark World deck always comes through for me, but whenever I duel Delilah, it's like all the good stuff gets buried deep in my deck.'_

"You gonna move any time soon?" Delilah asked.

"Don't get your panties twisted," Shaw snapped. "I'm thinking."

He looked over the three cards he had in his hand. _'Come on. There has to be something I can do with these.' Then it hit him, 'Wait a minute. This could work. But if I want to draw her in, I'm gonna need to put more wood on the fire.'_

"I summon Scarr, Scout of Dark World," Shaw finally said.

Appearing on his field next was a grey-skinned fiend wearing scarlet armor. It stood in a quadrupedal stance (on its hands and feet) while holding a dagger in one hand.

(ATK: 500)

"Then, I'll set these, and end my turn."

Delilah drew as Shaw's facedowns appeared.

"You know, I've been thinking, Delilah," said Shaw. "You and I really are a lot alike. We both sacrifice the weak to preserve the strong. You can claim that you sacrificed it to protect it all you want, but we both know the truth."

"We're nothing alike, Shaw," Delilah scoffed. "Stop acting like you know me."

"But I do know you, Delilah," Shaw continued. "I've done my homework on you this time, and I know that you and I had similar childhoods, the only difference being I lived the life a street rat while you grew up in a cushy orphanage."

Delilah's eyes went wide when she heard those words.

"That's right," he went on. "I know about that time. How it must have felt to spend years there without being adopted even once. Do you know why? It's because the nuns made sure to tell all those 'window shoppers' that you were dangerous and cursed."

Delilah's head dropped and tears started to roll down her cheeks.

"Yes," the half-oni chuckled, "the truth hurts, don't it? You've known that fact for some time now, haven't you? But you've prayed endlessly that it was just a rumor. But you can't deny now, those nuns were nothing but greedy, sleazy, low-down, good-for-nothing. . . "

"You stop right there!" Delilah screamed.

Shaw stopped talking as he paid closer attention to Delilah. She was shaking and covered in a dark aura that danced across her body like the flames of a campfire. Shaw kept a cool smirk on the outside, but on the inside he was as giddy as a schoolgirl and was celebrating like he won his first Championship title.

_'Yes!'_ he screamed mentally, _'I did it! I've pissed her off enough to lose control of her power! I've got her now!'_

Maria, on the other hand, witnessed what was going on and was scared. _'Oh, no, this is bad,'_ she thought. _'She's starting to lose control.'_

"Delilah!" Maria then yelled. "Calm down! He's just trying to upset you!"

"Stay out of this, Maria!" the goth girl snapped not even looking up. "This time he's gone too far."

Maria went silent, and took a couple steps back. She knew that when Delilah had that tone in her voice, things were gonna get ugly.

"Shaw," Delilah coldly started, "you can insult me and my Monsters all you like and I'll let it slide by with just a sting, but when you insult my friends and family," she looked up to show that not only were her eyes at full glow, but she had a pair of small fangs, "THEN YOU'RE JUST ASKING FOR IT! BLAK, GIVE SHAW A TASTE OF HIS OWN MEDICINE!"

The possessed executioner leapt into the air, its ax held high.

"Got you again!" Shaw said loudly and gleefully as his trap lifted. "Go Hate Buster!"

_'And boy, do I have her,'_ he mentally told himself, as he ran through his plan. _'After Hate Buster destroys Blak, Delilah will be left with a penny ante thousand and forty.'_ He then looked at the top card of his deck, and through special contact lenses, saw the invisible ink markings indicating what the card was with Card of Demise. _'And with Card of Demise, I then will be able to draw either a monster or a card to bring a monster back, and then I can end this and force her to attack me with her powers. I'm finally going to defeat Delilah and get her off my back once-and-for-all.'_

"I Chain to your Trap one of my own!" yelled Delilah, still angered by Shaw's comment. "Go, Altar for Tribute!"

Under his breath, Shaw said a few choice words that were not fit to print as her trap lifted.

"With this, I sacrifice Blak to add its Attack Points to my Life Points before you take them out!"

With that, the black-colored fiend dissolved into particles of golden light that were absorbed by her Duel Disk. **(Delilah: 7640)**

"Now, with Blak gone, your Trap can't needs to destroy two monsters after all."

The half-oni paid no mine as his Trap dissolved away.

Delilah then fell silent as she set a defensive monster and two other cards.

"I end my turn," she growled, "But believe me when I say you're gonna get it next turn!"

"Why are you getting so worked up?" Shaw asked with a sinister smile, enjoying Delilah's eruption of emotion. "It's not like you're related to those frumpy nuns."

"The sisters at St. Joseph's Orphanage are the closest thing I have to a family," Delilah told him. "I won't tolerate anyone bad mouthing them, and that includes you."

"Whatever," Shaw drew his card and then played it, showing it to be Card of Demise. Looking at his new hand he drew with Card of Demise's effect, his snide smily returned, and grew.

"Just the hand I need to finish you off," he remarked, "but first, I'm gonna have to lose two of these cards to play my facedown fine."

As his last trap lifted, he slid two cards into his Graveyard.

"And FYI those were my other two copies of Beiige."

With that, the dark fog rolled out of this Graveyard, and from it rose the twin brothers of the first monster he summoned this duel. (ATK: 1600) x 2

"Then, I'll play The Puppet Magic of Dark Ruler."

Appearing over Shaw's field next was what looked like a blank with cloth doll.

"Now by removing Scarr and the Beiige twins from play, I resurrect my strongest monster so far."

The monsters groaned as their souls rose out of their bodies and were absorbed by the doll as their now empty husks shattered. The doll then started to reshape itself until it took the form of Blak. (ATK: 3300)

"Big whoop," Delilah grunted as Blak landed on Shaw's field and its huge ax appeared in its hand. "That thing is only powerful when it deals damage."

"Which is why I'm gonna give him my Big Bang Shot."

The executioner gained a blue aura as he cracked his neck in anticipation of exacting vengeance. (ATK: 3700)

"Even so, I still have Life Points," Delilah scoffed.

"But not after this," the half-oni showed her the last card in his hand. "I found this card on E-Bay, and it's been a great addition since I got it. It's called Wrathful Strike of a Fallen World. With this rare card, by giving up the rest of my Battle Phase it hits you with 200 points of damage for every monster in my Graveyard that's the same type as the one that just did damage, and I have more than enough fiends to end this."

Delilah just ground her teeth.

"It's over, Delilah. Blak, end this!"

Blak started to charge down the field when silver chains erupted out of the ground, wrapped themselves around the fiend, pulled him back to his place and held him there.

"WHAT?" Shaw screamed. "How. . ." Then he saw the face-up Fiendish Chain Card on Delilah's field. "NO! I HAD YOU!"

"You've got nothing, Shaw," the Shadow Chaser coldly stated as she drew. "Since you have nothing else to do, I'll start my turn, and I'll do so by offering my facedown Dark Resonator to summon Puppet Master."

The facedown vanished as a huge fiend with grotesque brown skin towered over Delilah. It wore a blue and yellow jester's costume and had a ring on each finger.

(ATK: 0)

"Next I'll use its ability, paying 2000 Life Point to bring two monsters back from the dead. I choose to resurrect the Dark Resonator I just sacrificed and the Versago the Destroyer I discarded when you played Dark World Dealing."

The jester-dressed fiend raised its arms and then whipped them down; allowing strings of possibly soul energy to drop down from the rings it wore and go into the ground. Jerking its hand upward, Puppet Master pulled two monsters out of the ground. One was a fiendish creature, with an odd outfit, consisting of robesand a tattered hood, and several small drums that were strapped to its back, and it had a very large Cheshire grin on its face. In its hand it held a tuning fork, and the other a small hammer. (ATK: 1300) The other fiend looked like a dark form that was wrapped with a few bandages and had a mask-like face. It also had four wing-like, claw appendages coming out of its back. (ATK: 1100) **(Delilah: 5540)**

"Now, I activate my facedown Level Retuner to reduce Puppet Master's Level by two from six to four."

The fiendish puppeteer glowed with a red aura as he seemed to become weaker (PM: 6-4)

"Now that that's done, I'm going to tune the together to bring out one of my best monsters."

Puppet Master lifted its arm to position the two other monsters over him, with Dark Resonator on top and Versago in between them. The small fiend then struck its tuning fork, and became three Synchro Rings that descended down upon the other two monsters and surrounded them. However, instead of a pillar of light descending down through the Rings, this time a pillar of fire rose through them, enveloping the monsters inside.

_"At the gates of the Underworld,"_ Delilah chanted, _"stands a guard who only lets his master through, and destroys all others who try. Abandon all hope all ye who challenge me, for now you face the beast, as I Synchro Summon Cerberus, Beast of the Netherworld!"_

The pillar of fire exploded, and when the smoke cleared, it revealed a giant, three-headed dog with fur black as the night and eyes burning red like hot coals standing over her. It growled angrily as some of the dark aura surrounding her entered the creature. (ATK: 3000)

"I'll then set my Hate Buster Trap facedown. I'm only telling you this because it won't be around long. Cerberus is a Fiend version of Trident Dragion. So by destroy two cards on my field, Cerberus can then attack three times."

As she said this, the card appeared, but then shattered along with the chains that were wrapped around Blak. The pixels flew into the mouths of the fieldish beast's side heads, and then all three heads growled, ready to strike.

"Now for one last card, I play Shrink."

The ax-wielding Dark Worlder instantly became half his size. He started to become worried as he stare at the three-headed beast staring down at him hungrily as if he were some chew toy. (ATK: 3700-1850)

"Time for you to pay, Shaw. Cerberus, attack."

The Fiend tried to run away, but the beast stooped down and grabbed him with its right head, swallowing him whole. **(Shaw: 5350)**

"Now attack him directly with Hellfire Howl!"

The left head then let out a eerie, ear-splitting howl that caused a few of the windows of the buildings that they were near to shatters as Shaw and Maria were both forced to their knees, covering their ears in pain. **(Shaw: 2350)**

The right then joined in the howl while flames started to poke through the outlines of the center head's teeth. The center head then opened its mouth to release a stream of fire the completely covered Shaw, who was screaming in agony for several seconds before the "holograms" faded. **(Shaw: 0)**

Shaw stayed there on his knees gasping for breath before starting to stand. He was only on his feet for a few milliseconds before Delilah rushed to him, slugged him right in the jaw, and slammed him, back first, into an adjacent wall, pinning him there with one hand on his neck.

"I oughta rip you apart for what you said," She coldly and somewhat evilly told him.

"Go ahead," Shaw choked out. "I've got you on a positive brutality charge now. Not only did you start up a Shadow Game in the middle of our duel, but now you've physically assaulted me. Meaning I'll be the one going free and you'll be gone and out. You've just signed your own occupational suicide."

Delilah started to tighten her grip, making Shaw gasp for what little air he could get.

"Delilah, STOP!" Maria shouted as she stood back up and hurried to Delilah's side. "He's not worth it! You've won the duel! You've won this round! Don't give him a reason, Delilah! You're better than this! You're better than Shaw! And you're better than HIM!"

On the comment of "him", Delilah returned to normal, the glow in her eyes, and the aura surrounding her fading. She let go of Shaw and let him slide to the ground, gasping for air, as she silently pulled the gem out of her pocket and held it up to allow Shaw to fade and vanish the same way Mason and Piggy did earlier that night. Maria started to say something, but Delilah cut her off.

"Don't say it," she told her calmly. "I know. I screwed up royally. I let Shaw get to me, again!" She started to cry "What he said… The sisters were the only ones who ever cared for me growing up. I just…"

Maria took her and directed Delilah's head to her shoulder, holding her close as she sobbed.

"I know, Delilah," She whispered to her. "You don't have to explain it to me. And it's not your fault. You and I both know that Shaw provoked you. And I'm Jalal has someone who can make sure the he stays away for a long time. Come on, you and I both need a quick bite before we head back."

"No Waffle House, okay," Delilah said, feeling better. "I'm not really in the mood for a diner dinner."

Don't worry, I know of a good place that's open late and has excellent food."

_**One thing I learned early, is that in tough situations you always find out who you can truly trust.**_

_**But it still doesn't supercede the fact that I'm dangerous, even to those I'm close to.**_

_**I can never really live a normal life the way I am. **_

_**Custom Cards**_

Barox

Attribute: DARK

Level: 5

(Fiend/Fusion)

"Frenzied Panda" + "Ryu-Kishin"

ATK: 1380 DEF: 1530

_(Released in the fifth booster pack set ever released in the OCG)_

Spirit Shield

Cont. Trap

Image: a purple energy barrier blocking a blast on white energy

When an opponent's monster declares an attack, you can remove from play 1 Fiend-Type or Zombie-Type monster from your Graveyard to end the Battle Phase. If there are no Fiend or Zombie-Type monsters in your Graveyard, destroy this card.

_(First used by Yami Bakura in episode 200 of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! Series)_

Attack Guidance Barrier

Normal Trap

Image: Hard to describe

Activate only when your opponent declares an attack. Redirect the attack to a Defense Position monster you control; it gains 600 DEF until the End Phase. After that battle, immediately end the Battle Phase.

_(First used by Seto Kaiba in episode 179 of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series)_

Powerful Rebirth

Cont. Trap

Image: Dark King of the Abyss raising out of a Graveyard, roaring in rage and overflowing with power.

Select 1 Level 4 or lower monster from your Graveyard and Special Summon it. That monster gains 100 ATK and DEF, and its Level is increased by 1. When this card is removed from the field, destroy that monster. When that monster is removed from the field, destroy this card. During each of your Standby Phases, take 1000 damage.

_(First used by Jack Atlas is episode 25 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's)_

Attack Guidance Armor

Normal Trap

A man wearing a demoning looking breastplate

After activation, equip this card to a face-up monster. Your opponent cannot select a card other than the equipped monster as an attack target.

_(First used by Seto Kaiba in episode 123 of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! Series)_

Signal Check

Normal Spell

Image: Neo-Spacian Glow Moss holding up its hands, while four orbs, red, blue, green, and brown, float between them.

Your opponent picks up cards from his deck until he picks up a Monster Card. Guess what Attribute you believe the picked up Monster is. If your guess is incorrect, your opponent adds the picked up cards to his hand. If your guess is correct, your opponent shuffles all the picked up cards back into his deck and you draw 3 cards.

_(Created by Cyber Commander and used with his permission)_

Forgotten Treasure of Dark World

Normal Spell

Image: An open coffin revealing the skeleton of Brron, Mad King of Dark World holding a rolled-up piece of parchment in his hand

You can only activate this card when there is a "Dark World" monster in your Graveyard, and if you would have 3 or less cards in your hand after its activation. Remove 1 "Dark World" monster in your Graveyard from play. Draw cards equal to that monster's Level. Discard cards from your hand equal to half of that monster's Level (rounded up).

Dark World Prison Chains

Equip Spell

Image: Field-Commander Rahz in a dark prison cell wearing demonic-looking hand and leg shackles as the shadow of Blak looms over him.

Activate only if you have a "Dark World" Monster on your side of the field. Equip this card to a Monster on your Opponent's side of the field. Reduce the ATK and DEF of the Equipped Monster by half and then discard one card from you hand.

Vilot, Musician of Dark World

Attribute: DARK

Level: 3

(Fiend/Tuner)

This card cannot be used for a Synchro Summon unless the other Synchro Material Monsters and the Special Summoned Synchro Monster have 'Dark World' in their names. If this card is discarded from the hand to the Graveyard by a card effect, you can Special Summon it. If this card is discarded from the hand to the Graveyard by your opponent's card effect, while it is face-up on the field, increase the ATK of all "Dark World" monsters by 300.

ATK: 1250 DEF: 900

Taion, Defender of Dark World

Attribute: DARK

Level: 9

(Fiend/Synchro/Effect)

1 Tuner + 1 or more "Dark World" non-Tuner monsters

When this card is successfully Synchro Summoned, discard 1 card. During the End Phase of the turn that this monster attacked an Opponent's monster, it is switched to Defense Position. While this card is in face-up Defense Position, it is the only card your Opponent's can attack.

ATK: 2800 DEF: 3100

Grrai, Inventor of Dark World

Attribute: DARK

Level: 1

(Fiend/Effect)

If this card is discarded from the hand to the Graveyard by a card effect, Special Summon it as a Tuner Monster. If this card is discarded from the hand to the Graveyard by your opponent's card effect, add one Trap card from your Graveyard to your hand.

ATK: 300 DEF: 150

Blak, Executioner of Dark World

Attribute: DARK

Level: 10

(Fiend/Synchro/Effect)

1 Tuner + 2 or more "Dark World" non-Tuner monster

When this card is successfully Synchro Summoned, discard 2 cards. When this card battles with a monster on your Opponent's side of the field, double all Battle Damage that this card inflicts.

ATK: 3300 DEF: 2700

Wrathful Strike of a Fallen World

Quick-Play Spell

Image: The Last Warrior from Another Planet roaring in rage as he stands on a barren land cluttered with skeletons that match his body type.

If you have only 1 original (printed) Type of monster in your Graveyard, when a monster of the same Type inflicts Battle Damage to your Opponent's Life Points, inflict 200 points of damage for every monster of that type in your Graveyard. End your Battle Phase after you play this card.

Cerberus, Beast of the Netherworld

Attribute: FIRE

Level: 10

(Fiend/Synchro/Effect)

1 Fiend-Type Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner Fiend-Type monsters  
This monster cannot be Special Summoned except by Synchro Summon. When this card is Synchro Summoned, you can destroy up to 2 cards you control. If you do, for each card destroyed by this effect, this card gains 1 additional attack this turn.

ATK: 3000 DEF: 2800

Girl's Voice: I kinda feel for her. People can be cruel at times. If it were me, I would have hit her where it would really hurt him, right where the sun doesn't shine. (draws card) In any case, you've kinda meet Maria, so now watch her duel in a little for fun match in…

**Ch. 5 The Bistro Butcher**


	6. Ch 5 The Bistro Butcher

**Shadowchasers: The Glass City Saga**

**Chapter 5 The Bistro Butcher**

_** I'm a caring, considerate girl who often gets taken for granted by a lot of people.**_

_**Just because I was a model, doesn't mean I don't know things, I did graduate from Harvard Law, after all.**_

_**What's more I practically had my whole life stripped away from me because of another's greed.**_

_**I was played, mostly because I was young and naïve I guess; but still that's not excuse.**_

_**My name is Maria Cervantes, and I guess I'm just a pretty face.**_

_**-GCS5-**_

Keith stood in a dark room, looking around nervously, wondering what was going on and what was going to happen. Suddenly, the darkness was broken by a light behind him. He turned and saw an image on the "wall" before him. It was of him and someone else driving their Duel Runners down one of Toledo various residential streets. Then, he heard sirens to his left. Turning, he saw an image of himself and the other people at a suspicious gathering of gang members around an old car. A voice could be heard breaking the silence.

"Police officers, hold it!" the voice seemed to shout.

Suddenly a gunshot rang out behind him. Keith quickly turned on his heel to see the other man falling to the ground as one of the gang members held a smoking gun pointed at the falling man.

"KENNY!" Keith screamed.

_**-GCS5-**_

Keith shot bolt upright in shock. As he gasped for breath, he surveyed his surrounding. Seeing that he was still in his bedroom in the team's penthouse suite, he let out a sigh of relief as he calmed down. He had been having that same nightmare off and on for the past month. Of course, this usually happened whenever the day of his partner's memorial drew near. Thinking a glass of water might help him calm down; he silently got out of bed, pulled on his robe, and started walking towards the bathroom. Once, he entered the hallway, he noticed that Erick's bedroom light was still on. Looking at the digital clock back in his room, Keith saw it read 1:54A.M., meaning that Erick was back for almost two hours, and he was still up, the night before his 9a.m. class day. Keith just had to see what was keeping Erick up this time, because, lately, it was usually one of two things: his deck, or his science project.

Keith peeked through the door of Erick's room and that he was writing equations on a dry-erase board and a chalkboard behind him almost as fast as water evaporating off of a really hot skillet. He also had a pair of earbuds plugged into his ears, listening to some unknown music, and his computer was running some kind of search, or downloading something, as a progress bar on the screen showed about 56% completion of whatever the task was. Taking a close look at the chalkboard, Keith knew that it was the first option, as Erick was seemed to have these very same equations up 24/7.

"Hey, Erick," Keith said quietly, so not to wake Zolton, as he entered the room.

Erick had not heard him, as he still put chalk to chalkboard and marker to whiteboard.

"Erick," Keith said again, a little longer this time, but Erick went on.

Finally, the Police Detective walked up to the young Shadowchaser, and tapped him on the shoulder. Erick jumped with a slight yelp, startled out of his concentration. He whipped around to the side that something had touched, thinking someone was about to get the drop on him, but breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was only the senior member of the team.

"Geez a lou, Keith," Erick said, as he paused the music on his Ipod and pulled the buds out of his ears. "Give a kid a heart attack, what don't ya? Don't sneak up on someone like that."

"I did announce my presence to you," Keith told him," but you were in your usual working funk and couldn't hear me. Anyway, shouldn't you be in bed by now? You got a class at 9. What could be so important?"

"There, on my desk," Erick told him as went back to the boards, writing a few more figures on them.

Keith looked over to Erick's desk and saw the two cards that he won earlier that night. Keith picked them up and examined them closely, reading their effects.

"How did you end up getting these?" he asked. "I thought Doogie's shop was closed at this hour."

"It is," said the rookie. "I won those after the tournament."

"I thought the tournament was a video game tournament." Keith mentioned, hoping Erick hadn't done anything really stupid.

"It was," Erick continued. "I won it, too, but the I beat wasn't to thrilled about me winning. One thing lead to another, we dueled, you know the rest."

"Well," the Detective commented, "it seemed tough, but I've never even heard of this card, or what it seemed to belong to."

"I know what you mean," Erick said, as he motioned to his computer. "I'm running a background search on it and its archetype so I know just what I've got and what I could be up against."

Keith gave Erick a confused look.

"The cronies of that guy I won those off of sorta swore revenge against me," Erick explained.

"Ah," Keith began walking out of the room. "I hope that card works well for you in your deck, Erick," he then said once he reached the door, "but you can't keep this vendetta going forever. You've got to let it go."

"The man used me for most of my life, Keith," Erick said. "Do you know how that feels, to know something you thought you once knew to be a lie?"

Keith said nothing for a few seconds.

"Just be careful, okay."

Erick rolled his eyes. "Keith," he said," It's been a year. I'm not your apprentice anymore."

"Deep down, you'll always be my apprentice, Erick," Keith told him. "That's the thing about getting old, you tend to try and hold on to the good time while you still can remember them. Night."

With that, Keith left, and Erick turned his music back on, and went back to work.

_**-GCS5-**_

Across the Maumee River, on the east side of the city, is a section known as The Docks. A quaint little place where one can dock their boat, after sailing along the river, to enjoy an evening of fine dining at restaurants such as **The Real Seafood Company**,**American Grille**, and **Tango's Cantina**. This evening found Maria and Delilah at an establishment known as **Cruise Liners**, a seafood restaurant and steakhouse whose interior design is modeled after a ship. The building was divided into three floors. The ground floor and balcony-styled top floor looked like a cruise ships dining room, while the basement club was modeled after a night scene on the deck.

Why would this place be opened after normal business hours? Well, the club, **The Party Deck**, did so well within the first two months after opening that the owner decided to have the dining room and kitchen open all night for those nocturnal diners. At the moment, Delilah and Maria were finishing their meals.

"I mean," Delilah said, as she went on with the rant she had started midway through dinner, "every time, he manages to say something that pushes me over the edge. This time, it was my life at the orphanage. Before that, it was how Jalal only brought me into the organization to use my abilities for his personal gain. I…"

"Delilah, relax." Maria told her. "It's over. You don't have to worry it again unless Shaw comes back, which I doubt will happen after this time."

"How's that guy doing, anyway?" the goth asked as she stuffed a fork-full of baked potato into her mouth.

"Well, I got a text from Keith's friend Bella, she said that he's out of surgery and in ICU," Maria answered. "It'll be touch and go, but it looks good."

"He's really lucky, you know," Delilah said, before swallowing. "Shaw may only be a half-oni, but he's about as strong as a regular one. If he had used his kanabo, Shaw would have killed him."

"Which is why he should be locked up," the strawberry blonde added. "I don't know why he keeps getting house arrest."

"He was a pimp who sold his girls to many members of the demonic underworld," explained Delilah. "A lot of his girls know things that can put them away for good. So he offers an exchange of house arrest for the information, since he still has control of the girls, and yet, when he gains the house arrest, he doesn't live up to his end, always making the promise to, but…"

"I'm sorry to interrupt," said their waiter, which neither of the female Shadowchasers realized was there until he announced his presence, "but would wither of you care for desert?"

Maria looked at Delilah, who signaled that she was done, before turning back to the waiter.

"No, I think we're ready for the check," she told him. "And could you bring a duel menu as well, please?"

The waiter nodded and went to get what they asked for. Delilah gave her friend a inquisitive look.

"Duel Menu?" she asked.

"Yeah," Maria told her. "This place has a special deal, had it since they opened. The customers can duel members of the staff to reduce the cost on their bill by a predetermined percentage, if you win, of course."

"Ok, but why?"

"Well," Maria blushed. "Shaw's been the only action we've seen all night, and I've been itching to duel. I know it sounds a little selfish, but you always duel him. I wanted a chance to see if I can finally pull off the combo I've been holding on to."

"And the truth come out," Delilah commented. "Maria, there's a reason why those cards aren't used anymore. The combo they're used for is incredibly hard to pull off, plus there are a lot of newer, better strategies out there to replace it."

"This coming from the girl who uses fiends most people today have never heard of," Maria chuckled. "Talk about the pot calling the kettle black."

"Maybe so," Delilah, told her, "but I use the old with the new, which is hard to do with the cards you're thinking of using with your deck."

"Still, a girl's got to try," said Maria. "These were a gift from my dad when I was going through those awkward teenage years, and they've helped me with my confidence ever since. Even though I've never been able to complete the combo, they've still given me the strength to go on through the fight."

By this time, the waiter had returned with the bill and a small menu, handing them both to Maria. After scanning the check, double checking the orders and prices, she examined the menu. Inside, the pages were covered with a list of names in one column, and a varying percentage in the other column. After about a minute, she closed the menu and set it down.

"I think I'll challenge … Chez Remy."

The waiter started to get nervous, and Delilah seeing this, looked at the menu to see just who her friend picked.

"Are you sure, ma'am?" the waiter asked. "Chez Remy is undefeated among the staff."

"I'm sure," Maria told him. "If he is undefeated, then he'll definitely be the challenge I need."

"Very well," the waiter then when to the kitchen.

"You sure you're sure, Maria?" asked the fiend duelist. "A strong duelist isn't exactly the kind of duelist to try and test those cards against."

"Maybe," the strawberry blonde said, "but I need to try. If I don't, I may never complete the combo."

"Well, it's your choice," Delilah gave up. "Just be careful."

"Don't worry," Maria told her. "I'll be fine."

"Maria," Delilah said, slowly shaking her head, "whenever you say that, I start to worry."

Maria just giggled as the waiter returned with a man in a white shirt and pants. He had a white apron around his waist and black shoes on his feet. A standard Duel Disk adorned his arm.

"I am Chez Remy Anton," he said. "I am told that one of you ladies wishes to duel me. Is that correct?"

Maria stood up.

"Yes, Chef," she told him. "I, Maria Cervantes, challenge you."

"While I never turn down a challenge," the chef said, "I must ask if you really want to do this. I'm no pushover."

"I wouldn't want you to be," Maria said.

Chez Remy simply shrugged.

"Very well, madam, let's take this to the stage, where we'll have more room."

Maria nodded and followed the man to a small stage at one end of the restaurant, which was, used by local bands and the occasional duel as a means of entertaining the patrons. As she walked, she pulled a device, about the size of a Blackberry, out of her purse, attached it to the gauntlet she was wearing, and it unfolded into a small Duel Disk.

"As I'm sure you know," Remy said as he and Maria took their sides on the stage and shuffled their decks, "if you win, then the entire meal for you and your friend will be on the house."

"This I know," Maria said as she placed her deck in her Disk, "but I'm not interested so much in the prize, I'm more interested in the duel." With that she activated her Disk and drew five cards.

"Well, then," the chef said as he did the same. "Let us begin."

**(Maria: 8000) (Chez Remy: 8000)**

"Chivalry is not dead with me, madam," Remy told her, "but since you challenged me, I hope you don't mind if I go first."

Maria nodded as Remy drew his sixth card. Seeing what he drew, he started to smile.

"Let me explain the way I duel, Miss Cervantes," he said. "I treat dueling like cooking. The deck is the recipe, and the duelist the kitchen. Over the course of the duel, we both add ingredients, creating a dish for all to enjoy. And when you want to cook, the first step is to gather your equipment. To that extent, I play the Curry Pot Spell card."

Sliding the card into a Spell & Trap Zone, a large cauldron sitting on a flaming bonfire appeared behind him.

"Now I'll summon Mushroom Man in Attack Mode."

Growing out of the stage, in front of Remy, was a white mushroom with arms, a red cap, and yellow eyes. (ATK: 800)

"I'll end it there."

"Then, I'll take my turn," Maria stated as she drew and added the card to her hand.

_'OK,'_ she thought, examining the field. _'Normal Monster. Low Level. Low Attack. He probably uses a form of a Human Wave Deck, but that Curry Pot card kinda throws me off. Guess I'll have to see what he's planning.'_

"I summon Vampire Orchis in Attack Mode," Maria continues, as a tall tree with flowers on each branch grew on her field. The tree seemed harmless until a carnivorous face grew out of its trunk and each flower grew its own set of teeth. (ATK: 1700)

"Orchis, attack Mushroom Man."

Two branches whipped out of the mass on top of the tree and latched onto the giant mushroom. The flowers bit down deep and sucked all of the fluids out of it, leaving only a shrivled husk of a mushroom afterwards. The branches then picked up the mushroom and threw it into the pot with a splash, revealing that the pot was full of fluid of some sort. **(Chez Remy: 7100)**

"Now I'll just set these and end my turn."

Two facedowns appeared behind the vampiric tree.

"Not bad, Madam," the chef said as he drew, "but we have just had an appetizer. The main course is yet to come. For now, though, I summon Jerry Beans Man."

The next creature to appear was a green jellybean with arms and legs, a cute face, and a yellow cape. In its hands it held a small sword and shield. (ATK: 1750) "Now…"

"Hold that thought," Marie interjected. "With your summoning, I can Special Summon Naturia Cosmobeet from my hand."

In a flash of light, what could best be described as a ball of twigs and flowers with big cartoonish eyes appeared next to the blood-sucking tree. (ATK: 1000)

"An interesting move," Remy commented, "but unfortunately, unless one of your facedown cards is Urgent Tuning your Cosmobeet won't be of much help. Jerry Beans Man, attack!"

The small creature flew across the field, ready to dice the nature creature to bits.

"It's not Urgent Tuning," Marie told him, "but by Trap does spell trouble for you. Go, Wall of Thorns!"

As soon as she said that, a wall of thorn-covered vines erupted out of the stage, intercepting the living jellybean, sticking it with a massive amount of thorns, and destroying it into pixels, which rained into the pot.

"Clever move, madam," the chef said as three facedowns appeared on his field. "I have nothing more for this turn."

"Alright," Maria drew her card, "time to go to work. I summon Gigantic Cephalotus in Attack Mode."

What appeared next could possibly best be described as a genetic mutation experiment crossing the DNA of a Venus Flytrap and a Tyrannosaurus Rex gone wrong, resulting in an abomination with the body, legs, and tail like a T-rex, and a Venus Flytrap flower replacing the head. It roared hungrily, awaiting the command to strike. (ATK: 1850)

"Next, I'll tune together Naturia Cosmobeet and Vampire Orchis."

Cosmobeet hopped into the air and in a burst of light motes, became two Synchro Rings. The Rings fell from the sky and encircled the vampiric plant, cutting it down to its orange outline. The tree's four Level Stars had just enough time to align themselves before the pillar of light engulfed them.

_"With the power of two beings of Nature's Army, I Unlock the East Gate to bring forth the Guardian of Spring. Synchro Summon. Come forth __Seiryuu,__ Azure Dragon, Nauria Barkion"_

In a burst, rocks and stones flew out of the stage and with them rose a long serpentine dragon with a stone-like hide and bark-like scales. (ATK: 2500)

Maria placed the two Synchro Material Monsters into her Graveyard, but once she moved her hand, the cards were ejected from her Graveyard.

"What the . . ." she questioned as she took the cards.

"Perhaps I should have said so earlier," Remy said, as he pulled two cards from the breast pocket of his shirt. Mushroom Man and Jerry Beans Man. "With Curry Pot on the field, monsters are removed from play and added to the recipe instead of going to the Graveyard."

It was then Maria noticed particles of light, leftovers from her Synchro Summon, sprinkling themselves into the pot on Remy's field.

_'Normal Plant Monsters with a remove from play strategy? What's he planning?'_ the strawberry-blonde asked herself.

"That only slightly slows me down," she told the chef. "I can still fight."

"Then let me give you some more ingredients to work with," the white-clad duelist, as one of his facedowns revealed itself. "I active Ojama Trio"

Hearing three small pops, the Shadowchaser looked a her field to see three strange beings in the empty spaces on her field. One was bulky with a big nose and black skin; one was chiseled with green skin, one yellow eye, and a long tongue hanging out of its mouth, and one was thin with stalk eyes, puffy lips and yellow skin. All three were on one knee with their arms crossed over their chests wearing red bikinis.

(DEF: 1000) x 3

"Now to, as they say," Remy went on, "kick it up a notch."

One of his other Traps lifted after he said that, revealing itself to be the Just Desserts Trap. Once the Trap was fully upright, a beam of energy erupted out of the card enveloping Maria for a few seconds before the card dissolved. After the rush, Maria had to take a knee to catch her breath. **(Maria: 5500)**

_'This guy doesn't have much of a rhythm to his deck,'_ Delilah thought._ 'What's he trying to do? How'd he get to be undefeated?'_

"Not a bad move," Maria huffed as she got back to her feet, "but it won't stop my attack. Go Barkion!"

The Nature made dragon roared and flew off down the field towards the chef.

"Once again," Remy remarked, "you wish to brig things to a boil, but we must let things simmer for now."

With that he pressed a button on his Dick, and his last Trap, Negate Attack, revealed itself, causing Barkion to fly, head first into a clear energy shield, stopping it dead in its tracks.

"Ok, then," Maria said, slightly nervous over the events that have happened. "I end my turn."

Remy silently drew his card, and then placed two cards on his Duel Dick, one a facedown, Defense Position Monster, and the other a Spell Card called Heart of the Underdog. He then signaled the end of his turn.

Maria drew her card.

_'With Heart of the Underdog out,'_ she thought, _'it's definitely some kind of Vanilla Theme, but I still can't pin down what kind. Well, guess the only way to find out is to keep going.'_

"Barkion, attack," she then commanded.

The earthen dragon reared back its head, and spewed a green fluid out of its mouth that melted the facedown card, like metal touched by acid. The holographic image of a half of a star fruit with small, black eyes appeared above the card before it shattered.

"That was my Cosmic Starfruit you just destroyed," Remy explained, as the pixels flew into the pot. "By doing that, and removing it from play, I now get a new one."

As he said that, another star fruit appeared. (ATK: 1400)

"Well, that one's getting squashed as well," Maria told him. "Thanks to Gigantic Cephalotus."

The dinoplant then roared and charges down the field. It head butted the fruit up and over the edge of the pot and into whatever was in it. **(Chez Remy: 6650)**

Within seconds, another one took its place (ATK: 2400)

"Wait a minute!" Delilah shouted from her table. "How did that thing get stronger?"

"Quite simple, really," Remy told her, Maria, and the rest of the night owl crowd who was watching the duel, "you see, Cosmic Starfruit starts out with only 400 Attack Points, but when it's destroyed, it calls out an ally, and gives it some of its spirit. In game terms, one Cosmic Starfruit gains 1000 Attack Points for each one of its brethren that lay in the Different Dimension."

Many members of the crowd murmured and remarked at the effect of the small plant, but Maria was starting to sweat a little bit.

_'Man,'_ she thought, _'He's deck has so many twists to it. I doubt that that's all those fruits can do.'_

"I have no choice but to end my turn," Maria stated.

Again Remy said nothing as he drew. He looked at it, and then showed it to Maria.

"I just drew Terrorking Salon," he said. "Since it's a Normal Monster, I get to draw again."

He did so.

"And now, I'll draw again," he showed Maria his new card, "because I've drawn another Normal Monster. This time it is my Potato Man."

He drew once more, but this time, just added the card to his hand.

"Even though they now have the same points," the chef said, "I Sacrifice Cosmic Starfruit to summon Terrorking Salmon."

The small fruit transformed into an orb of multi-colored light, and out of it swam a rather large fish that floated in the air as if it was water. (ATK: 2400)

"You know," he added. "I think this recipe needs a few more greens in it to make it healthy. I think your Cephalotus will do."

Without saying another word, he pointed at the creature in question and Terrorking Salmon swam down. Cephalotus leaned forward, jaws open, awaiting its prey. The large fish swam in through its mouth and out through its tail, ripping its way through the dino-plant hybrid's body. The hybrid roared in pain. Terrorking Kalmon then swam under Cephalotus, and gave a mighty headbutt, setting it sailing into the cauldron with a huge splash. **(Maria: 4950)**

"Now I'll set one card facedown, and end my turn," as she drew.

"You know," Maria told the chef, "I still can't tell what theme your deck follows. At best, I'd almost say a food-themed Billy Deck. Mind if I ask?"

"Not at all," Remy said. "It's not everyday that I get to duel. For the most part, you are right. It is a food-themed Billy Deck, but this one focuses more on Normal Monsters and bringing out a very special monster that doesn't get much use any more."

"I see," the Shadowchaser said. "Well, I won't pry any longer, or stall for that matter. Barkion, put that fish in its place."

Barkion wrapped its tail around the fish and threw it into the cauldron.

**(Chez Remy: 6550)**

"That's it. It's your move," she told him.

Remy drew his card in silence. He then showed the card to Maria.

"I've drawn Onion Man," he said, "another one of my Normal Monsters, so you know what happens."

He drew once more, this time revealing an old Niwatori Card before he drew once more, and added the last card to his hand.

"I'll just set this and place a monster on the defensive.

Two facedowns appeared on his field, one in front of the other, perpendicular to each other. The food-themed deck user then signaled the end of his turn.

"Let's see what I can do," the strawberry blonde said as she drew her card. When she saw what she drew, she almost squealed in delight, but kept her poker face together.

_'Yes,'_ she thought. _'I've drawn a part of my combo.'_ She then looked at her hand. _'And I have a way to bring out the next part I need.'_

"I Summon Pheromone Wasp in Attack Mode," she then declared.

Appearing next on her field, as she played the card, was a green insect with red compound-eyes, translucent wings, and a white abdomen. (ATK: 800)

"Before we go any further, madam," Remy called out, "May I ask you about the theme of your deck?"

"You may," she answered him. "My deck is what I call a Nature Deck. Plant and Insect-type monsters, with a few Beasts thrown in, many of the Earth Attribute. You could say it's another take on the average Earth Deck.'

"Interesting," the chef commented as he hit a couple of buttons on his Disk, "and while we are having this break in action, it's time to increase the heat with my facedowns. First, Scapegoat."

One of his facedowns revealed itself to be a spell card before dissolving and creating four, small, cute sheep with curved horns. Each one was a different color, pink, orange, teal, and yellow. (DEF: 0) x 4

"Next," he said as his other facedown lifted, showing a card that made Maria's eyes go wide, "Token Feastevil."

Even Delilah started to get nervous after hearing what the card was.

_'Oh, no,'_ she thought, _'if this works, Maria will be in the Red Zone. This may be a Billy Deck, but it sure ain't your typical Billy Deck and he ain't the average duelist either.'_

"As you no doubt know, madam," Remy continued. "Token Feastievil will destroy all the Token Monsters on the field and inflict upon you 300 times the total number of Tokens destroyed. Doing all of the math, I believe you shall be dealt a total of 3000 points."

"Uh, better check again." Maria interjected. "I only count four sheep Tokens on your field, and three Oja. . ." it was then that it hit her.

"I see you just remembered the effect of the Ojama Tokens you now possess," the chef said. "For each one destroyed, you take 300 points of damage."

The four sheep Tokens and three Ojama Tokens then exploded into a flurry of pixels that flew across the field and swirled around Maria like a tornado. Maria shielded herself, as pixels sailed every which way past her. **(Maria: 2850)**

When the tornado eased away and the pixels dissolved to nothing, Maria was briefly shrouded in a red aura as the effect of the Ojama Tokens kicked in. **(Maria: 1950)**

"Nice move, Chef," she commented as she regained her composure, "but its not gonna keep me out of this fight. Barkion, attack his facedown Monster."

Once again, the dragon spat up a stream of acidic fluids that started to melt to card and cause an image of a monster to appear above it. This time, it was a translucent hologram of an overweight, chicken-like creature before the card shattered, sending the shards into the pot.

"Now, Pheromone Wasp, attack him directly."

The insect took off, buzzing down the field. It zoomed pass the chef a few times befoe knocking the back of his head with its abodomen on its way back to Maria's field.

**(Chez Remy: 5750)**

"And now my wasp's effect activates, allowing me to Special Summon Petit Moth in Defense Mode."

The next thing to appear on Maria's field was what could best be described as a caterpillar with a thick, green exoskeleton. (DEF: 200)

"Then, I'll equip my young moth-to-be with the Cocoon of Evolution."

Petit Moth lifted its head skyward and spewed a spray of white, stringy treads that covered the insect from hand to tail. The string-covered caterpillar then started to glow and transformed into a giant, pink cocoon. (Def: 2000)

Murmurs of different kinds traveled around the dining room at the sight of the insect.

"Cocoon of Evolution and Petit Moth?" Remy questioned. "If I may ask, why would you try to use the hardest combo known to duelists world wide."

"Let's just say that these cards mean something to me," Maria answered. "I end my turn."

"Then allow me to take mine."

Remy drew his card and then showed the card to Maria.

"I've drawn 7 Colored Fish."

He drew again.

"Sonic Duck."

And again.

"Monster Egg…Winged Egg of New Life…a second Monster Egg…Here we go."

He slid his newly drawn card into a Spell and Trap Zone.

"I play Magical Mallet, a card that's rather hard to find now days."

He took five cards out of his hand, possibly the five Normal Monsters he just drew this turn, and auto-shuffled them back into his deck before drawing five new cards.

"I must warn you madam," Remy said, "after this move, the recipe will be nearly complete."

"Well, that's bad news and good news," Maria told him. "Bring it on."

"Gladly. I summon Sonic Bird in Attack Mode."

Immediately after placing the card on his Dick, a large, rotund bald eagle appeared wearing a scarf, aviator goggles, and a jet pack. (ATK: 1400)

"With its effect," he continued, as a card popped out of his deck and he added it to his hand. "I can add the Hamburger Recipe Ritual Card to my hand. Now I'll use it to further spice up the meal."

The spell card appeared on his field and from it sprung a demon addressed in a blue chef's uniform, complete with the hat.

"For this Ritual, I offer both my Onion Man and Potato Man."

Appearing in front of the demon chef was a large red onion and a potato of equal size. Both of them had cartoon arms with white gloves and cartoon legs with red boots. With several slashes with his knife, the demon chef diced the two living vegetables to bits, cutting off their arms and legs. The chef then took a few of the pieces, along with the arms and legs, and added them to the mixture in the cauldron behind him. Then, he picked up the remaining pieces and disappeared back into the card he came from. In a flash of light, the card was gone and in its place was your typical hamburger, but this one had spike-like teeth sprouting from its top and bottom buns. (ATK: 2000)

"Now I'll use the Tribute Doll Spell Card to offer Sonic Bird as a sacrifice to bring out Spinach Man."

The bird vanished, and in its place stood a spinach plant with the same arms and legs seen on the Ritual offerings, only this one was more muscular. (ATK: 2300)

"Luckily for you, since I used Tribute Doll to summon Spinach Man, it can't attack; but Hungry Burger can."

As if knowing what Remy implied, the monster burger hopped its way across the field, and chomped down on Pheromone Wasp until it shattered, sending particles into the pot. **(Maria: 750)**

"Now I'll let this simmer," he went on as a facedown appeared, "and end my turn."

_'That trap better be a good one,'_ Delilah laughed to herself. _'Maria's Barkion'll eat those food group rejects for lunch.'_ Then something crossed her mind. _'Wait, Onion Man? Potato Man?'_

"He's gonna try and bring it out," she gasped.

Maria said nothing as she drew. She smiled a little bit when she saw her card.

_'Good thing I decided to add a few of these into my deck,'_ she thought.

"I hope you don't mind if I try to buy a little time," Maria told him, "with my Goblin's Secret Remedy."

She slid the card into her disk and was then covered in a light green aura as her Life points got a small boost. **(Maria: 1350)**

"There, much better. Now, Barkion, attack his Hungry Burger."

The dragon lunged down the field, ready to devour the monster in question when a blanketing cloud of some kind of black substance popped out of nowhere and covered Barkion's head, causing it to sneeze violently.

"What happened?" Maria asked, watching her dragon, worried for its well-being.

"Your dragon just activated my Special Trap Spice-Black Pepper card," Remy explained, as Maria looked to see a Trap card showing a similar situation with a bald male about to sneeze in a cloud of black pepper. "This card is similar to a Trap known as Scrap-Iron Scarecrow, except it only adds a little pepper to the dish; for too much would spoil it."

"Translation?" asked a guy near Delilah's table.

"It only negates one attack while Scarecrow does that once a turn," Delilah explained.

"Not much else I can do then," The Nature Duelist said.

The chef then went through the same motions he had been over the past couple of turns, drawing first 7 colored Fish, Charcoal Inpachi, and Carrot Man. When he drew the next card, he instantly played it.

"I now put into play my Spice Rack Continuous Spell, which lets me add any Spice Spell or Trap cards I want from my deck to my hand."

A card popped out of his deck. He then took it and played it.

"That includes my Red-Pepper Spice Card."

Instantly, a cloud of red pepper flakes and powder covered the field, focusing heavily on Hungry Burger and Naturia Barkion; but while Barkion was coughing and choking, the sandwich monster seemed to be basking in the shower of spice. (NB: 2200) (HB: 2300)

"Hungry Burger, show Barkion who the new top of the food chain is."

The hamburger monster leapt high into the air and bit down hard on Barkion's serpentine body, shattering it and adding its pixels to the pot with all the others. **(Maria: 1250)**

Then, on his signal, the leafy vegetable dashed across the field; and, with a powerful uppercut, uprooted the cocoon and sent it and what was inside into the concoction in the pot with a splash.

"Now I'll take Counter Spice Cumin off my spice rack," he said as another card popped out of his deck, "and set it. Now that it is the end of my turn, I have a decision to make. I can either destroy Spice Rack, or pay 400 Life Points for each card I add to my hand by its effect, that means that I'd pay 800 now; and if I add two more cards next turn, I'd pay another 1600. So I'll send Spice Rack to the Graveyard instead."

The card on the field then dissolved to nothing, as Hungry Burger returned to its normal power.

Maria then drew. When she saw what she drew she started to beam.

"Yes, now I can start my comeback," she stated, as a tray slid out from within her disk. "I play the field spell, Gaia Power."

Within seconds the restaurant transformed into a forest with the two duelists at the foot of the biggest tree there.

"Now I'll summon Naturia Horneedle in Attack Mode."

With a buzzing sound now filling the field, a large bee flew out of the tree next to them, with wings made of leaves and a blue and a pink flower for its antennas. (ATK: 1800 – 2300)

"With my field spell giving Horneedle a boost in strength, I can match your monster step for step."

"Not quite," Remy said, motioning to his Spinach Man, who was now even more muscular than before. (ATK: 2800)

"I can still take out your Burger King reject," Maria called out, as the bee flew across the field, and stabbed the monster from the top down with its stinger. Horneedle started to sly higher, with Hungry Burger stuck it its stinger. Once it was high enough, it started to fly in quick loop-da-loops, building momentum. After a few seconds, the living burger flew off and splashed down into the mixture in Curry Pot. **(Chez Remy: 5450)**

Remy merely pressed a button on his Duel Disk.

"I activate Counter Spice Cumin," he told her. "When one of my monsters is destroyed, Counter Spice Cumin lets me add a Level 4 monster to the mix. I choose to Summon Carrot Man."

Appearing in Hungry Burger's place was a large carrot that, like the other vegetable-theme monsters so far, had cartoon-ish arms and legs. (ATK: 800 – 1300)

"I'm setting this facedown, and calling it a turn for now," the Nature duelist said.

_'Great,'_ Delilah thought, as she hid her face in her left hand, _'Erick's starting to rub off on her.'_

Remy then went on a short drawing session, drawing first Bolt Escargot, then Monster Egg before stopping at the third card.

_'Now, what to do?'_ he thought. _'If I attack now, first with Spinach Man and then with Carrot Man, victory will be mine; however her facedown could either negate Carrot Man's attack or give her more Life Points. If I summon Monster Egg and then go down the line, I'll only solve one possible problem. I think my best chance might be to use option three, and that option may intimidate her out of using her Trap.'_

"I sacrifice Carrot Man to summon Bolt Escargot," he shouted.

The carrot diced itself up into pieces and those pieces flew into the pot; where Carrot Man once stood, appeared a large snail with a yellow, brown-striped, spiral shell covered in small spikes. Electricity crackled all across its body. (ATK: 1400)

It was then that everyone, other than the food-theme duelist, noticed the stuff in the pot started to boil.

"What's going on?" Maria asked, somewhat scared.

"The recipe is nearing its completion," Remy explained. "All it needs is a little more meat."

With that, Escargot, Spinach Man, and Horneedle all bust into pixels and they too, were added to the boiling substance. Instantly afterwards, the fluid erupted out of the pot and landed on Remy's field, forming into a humanoid being. In a flash of fire, the creature's true form was shown, a yellow, red-cape-wearing being with a gravy boat on top of its head, a potato necklace with a carrot pendant, and an onion belt. It held a portable pressure cooker in one hand and a large spoon, almost as big as he was, in the other hand. (ATK: 0)

"With each ingredient that was added to the pot, Curry Fiend Roux gains power. The Attack Points he holds are equal to 300 for each monster removed from play and 200 for each Spice Card in our Graveyards. With 22 monsters and 3 spices, that equals 7200." (ATK: 7200)

"Ay, ay, ay!" she exclaimed, and then went on to speak in Spanish about the monster's strength.

"Thank you, madam," Remy responded. "Now Curry Fiend Roux, attack directly!"

The large fiend reached back and swung its spoon at Maria.

"Reveal facedown! Defense Draw activate!" she called out as her facedown lifted and Roux's spoon collided with a green energy shield. Soon after, she drew a card from her deck.

"I end my turn," he said as he set a card facedown, "but soon this duel will be over."

"True," the strawberry-blonde stated, "but I still have a few more moves to make." She drew.

"I'll start with Spellbook Inside the Pot."

Both players drew three cards.

"Now I summon Naturia Fruitfly in Attack Mode."

Flying out of the trees this time was a small insect whose body, from head to abdomen, consisted of a blueberry, black raspberry, and a strawberry, with wings made of leaves. (ATK: 800 – 1300)

"Now I'm using Fruitfly's effect, which allows me to take control of a monster you control with 0 Defense Points."

"But that means Roux. . ." Remy started to say, his voice full of surprise.

"Becomes mine," Maria finished for him, as the Curry Fiend disappeared from the chef's field, and reappeared on hers.

"Now, I'm a very cautious person, and I'm willing to bet that that facedown of yours is something special incase your ace was taken like he is now. So I think I'll use him in a different way. I play Natural Power Transfer."

The spell appeared on her field showing the image of a green tiger with bark and tree limbs covering its legs absorbing power from a weakened Naturia Barkion.

"With this, I sacrifice Naturia Fruitfly and Roux then becomes an Earth Attribute."

The fruit-made insect dissolved into pixels which were then absorbed by the large fiend, giving it brown hues and streaks of dirt all across its body and possessions.

"Now I'll use Double Summon to let me bring out Naturia Vein."

The spell appeared on her field, and from it sprung a small imp-like creature made of ivy leaves and flower petals. (ATK: 200 – 700)

"Now I'll tune Naturia Vein with the now Earth Attribute Curry Fiend Roux."

Vein leapt to a surprising height before growing and transforming into a single green Synchro Ring, which descended and surrounded the fiend, reducing it to its framework. Eight Level Stars floated freely with the framework before lining upright down the middle just as the pillar of light appeared.

_"To protect her gardens and children,"_ Maria chanted as all of this was going on, _"great Mother Earth created a mighty guardian to serve as the first line of defense. Synchro Summon! Roar with Pride! Naturia Leodrake!"_

The pillar faded to show a large yellow and green lion with a red-petal mane a tulip at the tip of its tail. (ATK: 3000 – 3500)

"Now Gaodrake will attack you directly"

With a loud roar, the lion bounded down the field and batted the chef with its paw nearly knocking him off the stage. **(Chez Remy: 1950)**

Maria then set her last card facedown and signaled the end of her turn.

"I must say," Remy commented as he picked himself up, "I'm impressed. All the other duelists who have faced Roux either admit defeat or cower in defense until the end. None have ever thought of defeating him, let alone using him to their own advantage. I congratulate you on your quick thinking and applaud your dueling skill."

"Thank you," Maria said. "And I must say I admire your deck-building. I wouldn't be surprised if you had a few self-milling cards in there to try and manually boost Roux's power."

"And I thank you, madam," Remy said, drawing his next card. "But now, as a duelist, I must try to defeat your best monster."

He then slid a card into one of his Spell and Trap Zones and it appeared on his field.

"I activate the Different Dimension Reincarnation Equip Spell, discarding Mushroom Man #2 to bring back my Bolt Escargot."

The Electrical Snail reappeared on his field. (ATK: 1400)

"Next, I'll use the Level Tuning Spell Card to lower Escargot's Level by 1"

A red aura enveloped the snail (LV: 4)

"Now, I'll summon Nettles to my field."

The next creature to appear on his field was literally a living weed, cackling fairly evilly. (ATK: 1200-1700)

"Now I'll tune together Nettles and Escargot."

The Weed transformed into two Level stars which then became two Synchro Rings. The rings encircled the snail, reducing it to its orange framework, which chaged into four Level Stars of their own. The light pillar appeared just as the stars lined themselves up.

"I now Synchro Summon Master Gourmet"

Jumping out of the pillar as it disappeared was a tall male dressed in a white chef's uniform, armed with a large kitchen knife in one hand and a cookbook in the other. (ATK: 2400)

"Not a bad monster," Maria remarked, "but I'm not so sure it can stand up to my Leodrake."

"That would be where this comes in," the dueling chef told her as slid a card into his disk.

It appeared on his field to show it was the Shrink Spell Card. The nature-made lion then became half his size in seconds (ATK: 1500-2000)

"Now, Master Gourmet, dice that lion to bits," he then commanded.

As the chef began his charge, chains erupted out of the ground, wrapping themselves around his limbs (ATK: 1700)

Remy looked at Maria's field to see a Trap Card had been activated.

"Shadow Spell," he said. "Not a card I'd expect for the kind of deck you said yours was."

"True," Maria said, "but why should one give people what they expect?"

"Fair enough," Remy told her, as he signaled the end of his turn, allowing Leodrake to return to its full size.

Maria drew her card and summoned out her own Nettles. (ATK: 1200-1700)

She then simply pointed, letting the lion know that now was the time to charge down the field, and slash the warrior chef to ribbons with its claws. (**Chez Remy: 150)**

Nettles then followed, rushing between the chef's legs, causing him to trip. **(Chez Remy: 0)**

The crowd applauded the fantastic duel as the holograms faded away. Maria walked over to Remy and helped him to his feet.

"Congratulations, madam," he said. "You have defeated me. Your bill is now paid in full by **Cruiseliners**."

"Thank you, chef," Maria said.

She then walked off the stage and went to her table to get her things from Delilah. She then walked back to the chef as he was about to head back to the kitchen.

"By the way," She told him, "in case we ever see each other again, my name is Maria."

"I will remember that," Remy told her. "Enjoy the rest of your night. And to everyone else, enjoy the rest of your dinner." He then went back into the kitchen.

Maria and Delilah left the restaurant and walked towards their Duel Runners.

"I gotta say, that was an impressive duel." Delilah commented. "The way you guys went back and forth kept it an interesting match, despite how he practically threw his monsters away."

"It wasn't like that Delilah," Maria explained. "I could tell that he respected his monsters. While separately, they might not have been able to do much for the most part; Roux made it so the all of his monsters came together for the greater good, like how the ingredients of a recipe combine to create a superb dish with excellent flavor. That was his overall strategy."

"Maybe that's you see it," the goth told Maria, "but I still say he just treated his monsters like trash until he had the ability to summon the Curry Fiend of his."

Maria slowly shook her head as they both mounted their Runners. "You will never change, will you?" she asked.

Delilah just shrugged as they took off into the night to return to the casino penthouse.

_**-GCS5-**_

_**Okay, maybe that night wasn't my best example, but you get what I'm saying, right?**_

_**Some people see a pretty woman, and only see her for her looks and not what's on the inside.**_

_**For me, that inside is strong, but compassionate. A peacemaker and a warrior.**_

_**Though, with my new position, I do get some respect, but it doesn't always happen.**_

_**And in though times, you just have to go with it and prove yourself, and earn the respect you deserve. At least, that's what Daddy would tell me.**_

_**-GCS5-**_

Bolt Escargot

Attribute: WATER

Level: 5

(Thunder)

After rendering an opponent immobile by spitting a sticky goo, this monster closes in for the attack.

ATK: 1400 DEF: 1500

_(Released in the 11 Booster pack series ever released in the OCG titled Volume 6)_

Potato Man

Attribute: EARTH

Level: 3

(Plant)

ATK: 900 DEF: 800

Onion Man

Attribute: EARTH

Level: 3

(Plant)

ATK: 1200 DEF: 1200

Carrot Man

Attribute: EARTH

Level: 3

(Plant)

ATK: 800 DEF: 900

Curry Fiend Roux

Attribute: FIRE

Level: 8

(Fiend/Effect)

This card gains 200 ATK for each "Spice" card in either player's Graveyard and gains 300 ATK for each removed from play monster.

ATK: 0 DEF: 0

Curry Pot

Normal Spell

Image: A large cauldron, filled with a brown liquid, bubbling over a campfire.

All Monsters that would normally go to either Graveyard are instead removed  
from play. When a "Potato Man", "Carrot Man", and "Onion Man" you control are  
removed from play via this effect, you may remove all Monsters on the field  
from play to Special Summon 1 "Curry Fiend Roux" from your hand or deck.

Red-Pepper Spice

Normal Spell

Image: A red chili pepper in front of a spice shaker filled with red chili pepper flakes.

Until the End Phase, target monster gains 300 ATK, while another target monster loses 300 ATK.

Counter Spice Cumin

Normal Trap

Image: A bottle of Cumin

Activate only when a monster you control is destroyed. Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower monster from your hand in Attack Position.

_(The above cards were all used by Prof. Sartyr in episode 63 of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX)_

Spinach Man

Attr: EARTH

Level 7

(Plant/Effect)

By tributing one Plant Type monster on the field, this card gains 500 ATK until the End Phase.

ATK: 2300 DEF: 2100

_(Creative credit for this card goes to The Duelist of Dawn. Used in Ch. 19 of his fic Duel Academy Stories: The Society of Light. used with his permission.)_

Master Gourmet

Attribute: EARTH

Level: 6

Warrior/Synchro/Effect  
1 Tuner + 1 or more non-tuner monsters  
When this card destroys a monster as a result of battle, increase your Life Points equal to the level of the destroyed monster x 300.

ATK: 2,400 DEF: 2,000

_(Created by Dueler King, used with his permission.)_

Cosmic Starfruit

LIGHT

Level: 4

(Plant/Effect)

When this card is destroyed by battle and removed from play, you can Special Summon 1 "Cosmic Starfruit" from your Deck in face-up Attack Position. This card gains 1000 ATK and DEF for each "Cosmic Starfruit" that is removed from play. When this card is destroyed and removed from play while you have 2 "Cosmic Starfruit" cards removed from play through battle, you can return all 3 cards to the bottom of you deck to Special Summon one monster one Level 4 or lower Monster with 1200 ATK or less from your Hand, Deck, or that has been Removed from Play.

ATK: 400 DEF: 100

Trap Spice – Black Pepper

Trap Card

Image: a bald man in the middle of a cloud of black pepper, sneezing violently

Activate while you have "Curry Pot" face-up on your field, negate one attack this turn. If you have three "Trap Spice – Black Pepper" cards in your Graveyard while "Curry Fiend Roux" is face-up on your field, increase the ATK of "Curry Fiend Roux" by 1000.

Spice Rack

Cont. Spell

Image: The chef from Hamburger Recipe reaching to a small rack filled with all different kinds of Spice bottles

Up to twice per turn, add one "Spice" Spell or Trap card to your hand from your deck and show it to your Opponent. You can only activate one of these added cards during the turn you add them. During your End Phase, either pay 400 Life Points for every caqrd added by this effect while it is face-up on your field, or destroy this card. While this card is in your deck or Graveyard, it is not treated as a "Spice" card.

Natural Power Transfer

Normal Spell

Image: Naturia Beast absorbing power from a weakened Naturia Barkion as scales start to appear on Naturia Beast

You can only activate this card while you control at least two monsters. Tribute one monster you control. Treat the Attribute or Type of the one other monster you control as that of the Tributed Monster until the End Phase of this turn.

_**-GCS5-**_

Boy's Voice: Well, with the introductions out of the way, let's move onward with this story. If you're wondering when we get to the big events that are suppose to happen, be patience. We'll get there soon. First, I'm betting you'd like to know what it was the Erick won back during his duel. Well, the most of the tests are done, and he needs to do now is field test it in his deck. To do that (draws card from deck) he and Delilah have a little practice duel before the official start of the average day in a Shadowchaser's life. Stay tuned for…

**Ch. 6 Alchemical Experiments**


End file.
